I've reviewed so many pairings of the Debussy and Ravel quartets that I fear a deja vu aspect to my writing, but they still come and this earns its place even in a remarkably strong field that should deter all but the most accomplished ensembles. I started writing 'and experienced' in that sentence, but then deleted what I'd written: experience isn't everything, and indeed the youthful energy and tenderness of these pieces must come across in performance. The Lindsays characteristically offer a bold sound and an interpretatively robust account of the two French masterpieces, and sometimes I miss that tenderness, and also the sense of discovery, that we should feel in the gentler music of the first movements – where they take the second subject of the Ravel (marked a tempo) slower than the first. Expressive, yes: but in quite the right way? I put that as a question, conceding that there's more than one road to truth. Do these artists reach the heart of these works, above all in their slow movements?
On the positive side, the Lindsays are masters and everything on this disc is shapely, balanced and blended as well as interpretatively consistent. Often one is captivated, for example by the nimble soft ending to Debussy's scherzo and, yes, the real hushed pianissimo that opens and closes his Andantino. The finales of both French quartets have passion and elan. No admirer of this ensemble should be without this disc. Yet I value it chiefly for their deft, authoritative playing of Stravinsky's brief Three Pieces. The recording is rich yet detailed.
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