Intermezzo

The young Schumann Quartett here celebrate three major German composers—Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, and, from modern times, Aribert Reimann. To bring the energy and dynamism of a concert experience, they made this album from a combination of live and studio recordings. It certainly paid off, as Schumann’s First Quartet fairly fizzes with electricity, its fever pitch powerfully conveyed, while Mendelssohn’s altogether more fluent First Quartet seems to flow off their bows with ease. The trio of works is completed by Reimann’s impressive arrangement of Schumann’s late Op. 107 songs, performed with tenderness by Anna Lucia Richter.