DEBUSSY. String Quartet in G minor.

RAVEL. String Quartet in F major. Emerson Quartet (Eugene Drucker, Philip Setzer, vns;

Lawrence Dutton, Va; David Finckel, vc). DG ® (13427 320-2GH (53 minutes; ODD). DEBUSSY. String Quartet in G minor.

RAVEL. String Quartet in F major. Fine Arts Quartet (Ralph Evans, Efim Boico, vns; Jerry Hornet, Va; Wolfgang Laufer, vc). Lodia ® 0 LOCD7702 (57 minutes: DOD).

Selected comparisons—coupled as above:

Alban Berg Qt (8/86) CDC7 47347-2

Melos Qt (10/87) 419 750-2GH

Quartetto Italiano (10/88) 420 894-2PSL

The first thing I noticed about the Emerson Quartet's new coupling of the Debussy and Ravel String Quartets is that it is by no means new (the booklet gives the recording date as April 1984). As far as the playing is concerned, the first impression in the Debussy is of impeccable ensemble and tonal unanimity, but I was brought up short in the first movement by the much slower tempo taken at the second subject, marked only Un peu retenu (2'05"). Overall this is fluent playing, but it does not engage my heart and somehow I feel that in the process of achieving a fine polish a necessary feeling of spontaneity has been lost in this movement, and no less in the deftly played scherzo that follows. The slow movement is a musical holy place if ever there was one, but here, too, the Emerson walk in it as thoughtful and courteous sightseers rather than as pilgrims honouring the god, giving us agreeable music but no awe or pain. The finale goes best, but at this stage of their distinguished career the Emerson had not reached the heart of this work; I would like to hear them play it today, six years later, and suspect they now have more to offer.

The Ravel strikes me as more attuned to the style; it is more impassioned and the tonal refinement and texturing, make no mistake, are good even by today's high standards of quartet playing. The recording is admirably clear, yet thanks to the players, there is none of the rosiny roughness that legitimately belongs to some string sound, but which some listeners find distasteful at close quarters; and there's just the right amount of reverberation.

The performances of these two quartets by the Fine Arts Quartet are also not new, having been recorded in London in 1986. Theirs is an enjoyable reading of the Debussy, but less refined than that given by the Emerson. They bring a slightly deliberate approach to the first movement, less urgent at the start than the marking Animé implies, and the various tempos within the second subject (here at 2'21") are not well judged, the brief return to Tempo I, for example, being too slow. In bigger passages, too, there is a degree of roughness in the sound and in the coda (619") the triplet-crotchets and crotchet-plus-two-quavers rhythms are not sufficiently differentiated. But their account of the Andantino (taking over a minute longer than the Emerson) is one to cherish; every note and phrase is expressively felt and eloquent, and they also know how to use silence, e.g. before the Un peu plus vile middle section; there is a real climax here, and the hushed final solo by Ralph Evans is exquisitely moving. In the finale they let the momentum slacken at times, but they give it a good overall shape and there is still plenty of drama.

In the first movement of the Ravel, which is, after all, an Allegro even if qualified by the words moderato and très doux, the Fine Arts Quartet linger rather too much for my taste, but this is thoughtful and affectionate playing none the less. The scherzo is nicely done, as is the finale, but here, as in the Debussy, it is the beautiful slow movement which brings out this ensemble's especial strengths and it rightly brings a lump to the throat.

In sum, and despite my reservations, there is much to enjoy in either of the issues discussed above. But collectors will already know that there can hardly be a more competitive field in the quartet repertory than this particular coupling. In brief, the Quartetto Italiano on Philips Silver Line at mid price have skill, vitality and insight, outclassing even the fine Alban Berg Quartet on EMI, whose Ravel (good though it is) is not quite as good as their Debussy; but on balance I still find the Melos Quartet on DG, with their scrupulous yet sensitive response, a safe first choice in this field and their analogue recording of 1979 has transferred very well to Compact Disc. C.H.