Collections such as these are always difficult to evaluate, at least on purely artistic grounds. Too often they tend to gain in one work, lose in the next and offer only a partial roster of preferences. In this particular case, ‘digital-only’ collectors face less of a dilemma in that the Brandis set is relatively recent and the Decca release is in vintage stereo. Bargain-hunters, however, cannot but opt for Decca’s generously filled discs. Musically, it’s a matter of pitting the Brandis’s serious, orderly and fairly ‘central’ readings against mellifluous-sounding Viennese ensembles and the strongly focused Gabrieli Quartet.
My notebook was crammed full of relative preferences, but those in search of handy testing points might profitably sample both accounts of the second movement of Death and the Maiden, where the Vienna Philharmonic Quartet deliver a warm, vibrant body of tone, richly inflected and the Brandis favour a cooler, more distanced approach. In the Quartettsatz, the Weller Quartet are fairly easygoing, the Brandis a good deal more intense (theirs is the faster performance by over a minute). When it comes to the great G major Quartet, the Gabrieli’s first movement is the more involving and dramatic of the two: the shimmering pp first theme – at 2'03'' – is both more expressive and more finely tensed than on the Brandis recording (i.e. at 2'17''). Keith Harvey’s cello solo at the start of the Andante un poco moto has a rapt, yearning quality that isn’t quite matched by Wolfgang Boettcher and yet I can imagine some collectors finding the Brandis’s restraint more appropriate. Thomas Brandis and his players certainly bring a winning charm to the trio section of the A minor Quartet’s Minuet, though the finale of the same quartet sounds a mite plain.
As to the two versions of the String Quintet, the Brandis score by playing the important first-movement repeat (all 5'10'' of it) – a policy that they follow throughout their set, except in the case of the G major Quartet (which neither recording includes). Again, theirs is more an alert, symphonic overview than an intimate re-creation. I love the way they slim down their tone for the early stages of the Adagio (2'14''), producing a hushed, harmonium-like effect that is wholly in keeping with the spirit of the music (the Juilliard Quartet – CBS, 2/89, nla – followed a similar path). The Weller, on the other hand, win laurels for their smooth tonal profile, the concentration of their part-playing, a more ardent approach to the Adagio’s troubled core and an extremely colourful account of the finale.
In terms of recording, the Brandis’s Quintet is marginally more ambient than its quartet disc-mates, though all four performances reproduce well. The Decca Death and the Maiden suffers periodic invasions of traffic noise (from 4'38'' into the first movement, for example); so much so, in fact, that at one point I jumped up from my seat expecting to find a lorry parking by the kerb-side. The first movement of the Gabrieli’s G major Quartet opens to audible tape rumble that suddenly intensifies at around 7'01''. Collectors listening on bass-light speakers probably won’t notice, though others might usefully employ a bass cut.
Summing up, the Brandis offer a consistently musical overview of Schubert’s late chamber music for strings that lacks the last ounce of interpretative distinction, whereas Decca’s cheaper, less well-recorded and less comprehensive collection features the more memorable performances. Ultimately, I would opt for the Decca set.'