Every once in a while we play a disc that had been lying in the
to-be-listened-to shelf for who-knows-how long and then wonder what took
us so long.  That happened to me tonight with a recording of the Elgar
and Walton String Quartets by the Gabrieli Quartet on Chandos.

The Elgar is better known to me, and I have been searching for a great
recording of it for a long time.  I've heard a lot--not all--the good ones,
but none presented the Quartet to me as a work on the level of Enigma,
Gerontius, Symphony 2, and others, much as I love this work, which is a
lot.  This performance by the Gabrieli takes the Quartet to that level.
It's beautifully warm and autumnal, which is how I think this work should
sound, and the Gabrieli solves Elgar's elusive rubato beautifully--a must
in this music.  The pieces flows with wonderful liquidity and sounds
entirely natural.  The Gabrieli even solve the tricky last movement, which
can sound too angular and jerky in the wrong hands.  Or even in the right
ones.

If you have been unconvinced by this piece--or even if you like it as much
as I always did--give this performance a try.  It's out of the catalog but
available from Berkshire Record Outlet.

I am not as familiar with the Walton, but this sounded like a terrific
performance, too, especially of the beautiful slow movement.

Roger Hecht