Jan Smaczny, BBC Music Magazine
Five Stars

The Wihan Quartet deserves great credit for these two CDs, and not just for their playing. Getting less familiar repertoire into the recording studio is not the easiest of tasks and here they have slipped in two of Dvorák’s less well known quartets alongside two works which are pretty much standard repertoire, indeed, more than that in the case of the ever-green American Quartet.

…

“The Wihans’ performance goes to the Quartet’s heart … as a whole, this an enormously impressive reading that searches out real depths, especially in the slow movement, and in the Polka does not eschew the edgier side of the musical argument.”

Their way with the more familiar A flat Quartet is equally persuasive: the scherzo, one of Dvorák’s best, has superb impetus and they make the best of the sensual lyricisn of its trio. In the slow movement, they go for lucidity rather than chasing hidden depths. Nevertheless, as a whole their performance compares favourably with such classic interpretations as those of the Vlach, Prazak and Emerson quartets.

In the wrong hands the C major Quartet can seem a little austere. The Wihan Quartet, however, produces a completely committed and utterly convincing reading. The motivic argument in the first movement is pursued with rigour, but not at the expense of its occasional poignancy and the conclusion is truly exultant. Both slow movement and scherzo have a compelling intensity and the finale magnificent impetus.

“In short, this is the finest recorded performance I have encountered to date.”

… in an excellent recorded sound that reveals so much of the loving detail of Dvorák’s quartet writing, this is a formidable pair of discs.