CLASSICAL

Latest releases reviewed.

MOZART: EARLY STRING QUARTETS Cuarteto Casals Harmonia Mundi HMI 987080.82 (3 CDs) ****

The musical distance between the last of Mozart's early string quartets, written at 17, and the first of his mature works in the medium, at age 29, is every bit as great as you would expect. The best-loved of the teenage pieces, the so-called Salzburg Divertimenti written at 16, are works of unquenchable brio, now usually performed by orchestras rather than quartets. The Cuarteto Casals, lean and sinewy in tone, light and flexible in vibrato, approach all 16 works in their survey with imagination that's both painstaking and fresh. If they have a fault, it's that they sometimes indulge in overstatement in their eagerness to make the case. But that eagerness hits the mark consistently enough to ensure their new set will win new friends for this relatively unknown music. www.uk.hmboutique.com

Michael Dervan

SCHUBERT, BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS Radu Lupu (piano) Decca 475 7074 (Schubert, 4 CDs); 475 7065 (Beethoven 4 CDs); 475 7070 (Brahms, 3 CDs)  ****

It's been more than 10 years since Radu Lupu abandoned the recording studio, and these three sets represent the bulk of his recordings for Decca, covering 20-odd years from 1971. The great Romanian's playing is the antithesis of brash, with hardly a moment of routine colouring or nuancing to be found. There are sacrifices in terms of momentum and structural clarity in his breathtaking, beguiling pursuit of tonal beauty. His Schubert sonatas (nine in all), though sometimes loose, sound exceptionally alluring. The inwardness of his late Brahms is entrancing, though he does rather sprawl - albeit in gorgeous tones - in the early F minor Sonata. Three popular Beethoven sonatas are more resilient in the face of his romanticism, the early Piano and Wind Quintet sparkles, and his light-fingered deftness in the Beethoven concertos triumphs over sometimes scrawny playing from the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. www.deccaclassics.com

Michael Dervan

FAURÉ: CHAMBER MUSIC Various artists EMI Classics 336 1262 (5 CDs) ****

Fauré's chamber music covers the gamut of popularity, from the extremely well-known Élégie for cello and piano and the effortlessly tuneful Dolly Suite for piano duet, to the forward-looking, rarefied world of the late String Quartet, Second Piano Quintet and Piano Trio. There's also a little-known, cheeky side in a Wagner piss-take, Souvenir de Bayreuth, a quadrille for piano duet created out of themes from the Ring. The sympathetic performances here, first issued between 1964 and 1983, are by a stream of French luminaries: Christian Ferras, Pierre Barbizet, Paul Tortelier, Eric Heidsieck, Samson François, Jean-Philippe Collard, Augustin, Dumay, Frédéric Lodéon, Michel Debost, Bruno Rigutto, and the Bernède and Parrenin Quartets. At the price (the set is one of a series originating from French EMI retailing at sub-Naxos levels), this is a snip. www.emiclassics.com

Michael Dervan

POULENC: PIANO MUSIC Gabriel Tacchino, Bernard Ringeissen, Jacques Février EMI Classics 336 1452 (5 CDs) ****

You can get closer to the horse's mouth in Poulenc's piano music - after all, there are recordings by the composer himself. Gabriel Tacchino studied with the great man, and Jacques Février (who joins him in the works for two pianos and piano duet), played and recorded with Poulenc (including the first performance of the Concerto for two pianos). The recordings, made between 1966 and 1985 are, admittedly, not the most refined. But the playing captures, with a certain nonchalance, the sweetness, barbs, sentimentality and polyglot vernacular of Poulenc's gay and poignant style. Along with the solo and two piano pieces, the set includes the Piano Concerto, the Concerto for Two Pianos, and Aubade. www.emiclassics.com

Michael Dervan