Take three siblings, a friend, four string instruments and if the quartet is talented, you have an award-winning string quartet. This one comes from Neustadt an der Weinstraße, is called the Mandelring Quartet and has presented its latest album: Antonín Dvořák: String Quartet, Op. 96, String Quintet, Op. 97 & Humoresques, Op. 101.

The three works were all composed when the Czech master composer was working in New York as director of the New York National Conservatory of Music, a time when Dvořák was highly esteemed locally, earned excellent money - he received around 25 times his salary in his home country - and seems to have been full of joie de vivre. The three works radiate a richness of colour and a cheerfulness that is rather rare in his oeuvre.

The Mandelring Quartet has been playing the two string quartets 96 and 97 for a long time and, according to the musicians, they are among their favourite pieces. It was therefore time to record them for eternity. They are complemented by the Humoreques Op. 101, which were recorded for the first time and whose eight pieces include a melody that was popularised by the Commedian Harmonists at the end of the Weimar Republic - as ‘Eine kleine Frühlingswiese’.

There is nothing to be heard of singing and spring meadows in the recording released by the audite label. Instead, melodiousness and harmony are omnipresent, as is a surprising cheerfulness that is evident in many of the pieces. What is also striking is the excellent timing with which the musicians respond to each other and lend the diverse passages an astonishing heartbeat. At moments like this, it becomes clear that the musicians have been playing together since 1983 - a solid 42 years, so probably from childhood.

The recording also emphasises the high standard of the musicians. The quartet sits comfortably together, more like a parlour concert than a stage performance, intimate and the sound barely echoing and fleeting. Every dynamic facet is directly tangible, even the occasional breath can be heard, so close is the illusion of intimacy between listener and performers. In addition, the sound spectrum is wonderfully balanced and warm and natural even over a very analytical chain.

With its latest album Antonín Dvořák: String Quartet, Op. 96, String Quintet, Op. 97 & Humoresques, Op. 101, the Mandelring Quartet has given Dvořák's friends a gift. And a favour to all those who would or should get to know the Czech composer.

Absolutely worth listening to! (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Mandelring Quartet