R. Schumann: String Quartets, Op. 41

Album review

The young Dover Quartet has garnered plenty of attention, with prizes, residences, and critical raves for recordings on the Cedille label. Here, the group moves to the similarly high-quality Azica label for a recording of Schumann's three string quartets, and it is to be hoped that this will snare the major-label attention the quartet richly deserves. The Schumann quartets, harmonically and contrapuntally dense, have not always been considered friendly to listeners, but here, they receive performances that balance Schumann's intensive studies of Beethoven and Haydn with his natural boldness and harmonic experimentation. In the Dover's performances, Schumann seems rooted in Beethoven but pushing the formal and harmonic frontiers at every turn. The group's slow movements catch the transcendent Beethoven spirit that Schumann tried to match, and there is a real sense of surprise in the harmonic turns of the Scherzo of the String Quartet No. 2 in F major, Op. 41, No. 2. The quartet brings real excitement to works that have all too often not had it. This release was nominated as the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance at the 2020 Grammy awards.
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