“Right from the off in Dvořák’s late G major Quartet you can tell that the Wihan Quartet are taking an inflected route… the Wihan play sensitively and their fill-ups are especially imaginative.”
Josef Suk’s Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale ‘St Wenceslas’ is a masterly example of contrapuntal quartet-writing, and in addition to infusing individual lines with expressive weight the Wihan manage to keep textures admirably clear.Janácek’s First Quartet is also well observed, especially near the beginning of the work where cello, first violin and second violin respectively tail two bars’ worth of Adagio with a fidgety Con moto, each time growing more animated (a successively faster metronome is indicated).
“The second movement is teasingly playful, with icy sul ponticellos, the opening of the fourth movement persuasively lyrical.”
The Wihan make a persuasively narrative statement of a work that can too often sound disjointed, and they are well served by their recording.
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