Haydn: String Quartets No. 3, Op. 33; Nos. 1 and 2, Op. 77; Hoffstetter Serenade.(String Quartets No. 3, Op. 33: Nos. 1 and 2, Op. 77; Hoffstetter Serenade)(Sound Recording Review)

Alban Berg Quartet. EMI 7243 5 57541-2.

Chamber music is not as popular with the record-buying public as large orchestral pieces, so understandably music companies record less of it. But with music as felicitous as the quartets on this disc and playing as refined as the Alban Berg Quartet, this disc should do quite well for itself.

Haydn's output of chamber music was extensive, but his String Quartet No. 3, Op. 33, nicknamed "The Bird," stands out among the pack. Like most of the composer's quartets, this one is really like a miniature symphony, a point the booklet note emphasizes, with the four instruments taking on the parts of a larger orchestra, and the four movements structured along symphonic lines. But it's mainly the character of the music that is enticing, the nickname clearly deriving from its birdlike chirping. Interestingly, the later quartets from Op. 77 are not as easygoing or beguiling as the one from Op. 33, seeming more severe, more strictly arranged, and nowhere near as bouncy or engaging.