Brahms: String Quartet in A Minor; Clarinet Quintet, Michael Collins (clarinet), Brodsky Quartet

Brahms claimed to have written and destroyed 20 string quartets before he managed to complete any he wanted to keep. The two quartets of his Op. 51, which he wrote in 1873, ended a quarter century drought of quality work in the genre that had followed the death of Mendelssohn. The Brodsky's handling of the second of the pair is both easeful and intense, as if they'd set out to banish through clarity and seductiveness the claim that Brahms's quartet style was just too rich. Clarinettist Michael Collins joins the group for a hand-in-glove performance of the late Clarinet Quintet. Everything here is perfectly knit and balanced. The style may be too fluid and languid for some tastes, but the work's celebrated autumnal character is beautifully caught. url.ie/f1f2