HAYDN String Quartets, op. 17/1–6 • Buchberger Qrt (period instruments) • BRILLIANT 93760 (2 CDs: 120:08)

This is Volume 7 of the Buchbergers’ traversal of Haydn’s string quartets. Although seven two-CD sets is not enough to encompass them all, the series has been completed, and is about to be issued whole on 20 CDs, as part of Brilliant Classics’s monster “Haydn Edition,” a 150-CD box. I’ve been told that Brilliant also plans to issue just the quartets as a set. As in much of its previous Haydn, the Buchberger is frustratingly inconsistent. The good news is that it has a marvelous feeling for Haydn’s music and that the four period instruments are well matched and balanced, their gorgeous ensemble sonority fully captured by the recorded sound. It also plays all repeats except in Menuets da capo. The bad news is that these players can be cavalier about the notes on the page, eliding details more than some other ensembles that have recorded Haydn quartets. That didn’t come strongly into play in the comparatively heavy going of op. 20, and the Buchbergers struck me as marvelous there—readers may have found my reviews of the Buchbergers as inconsistent as their performances.

Although I don’t have scores at hand for op. 17 (the inexpensive Dover series, with its large, clear print, goes back only to op. 20, to my knowledge), comparisons with other recordings, primarily the Kodály and Schneider Quartets, show that the trend continues; both groups play with sharper attacks and greater verve in Allegro molto and Presto finales than does the Buchberger. Nevertheless, I prefer these new recordings, not only for their lovely sound but also for the ease and elegance of the performances, next to which the others sound rough and awkward. There is little competition for op. 17 on period instruments; a quick search on the Net did not turn up recordings by either Quatour Festetics or Quatour Mosaďques. Ideal recordings of op. 17 may not now exist, but I am happy with the Buchberger.

FANFARE: James H. North