Fanfare Magazine’s Jerry Dubins (who interviewed Zak Grafilo and reviewed our Brahms & Schumann CD as well) gives high praise to our Brahms: The String Quintets & Sextets CD:
“Perhaps the most amazing aspect of this Sextet (B-flat Major) is the clarity of the textures and lines Brahms maintains throughout the work, in spite of the addition of two more instruments to the ensemble and the thickness of the scoring. It’s a transparency that can be heard with penetrating purity in this performance by the Alexander Quartet in which Tony Appel takes the first viola part, and David Requiro takes the second cello part…
“Toby Appel and David Requiro switch roles for the G-Major Sextet, with Appel playing second viola and Requiro playing first cello. The effect on the ensemble is a darkening one, which suits the music perfectly. …once again, the Alexander Quartet, joined by Appel and Requiro, makes a most persuasive case for the score with a tonal refulgence, textural translucence, and expressivity of phrasing that are hard to resist.
“These are performances to fall in love with and to live with happily ever after.” —Jerry Dubins, Fanfare Magazine
Read the full review in Fanfare Magazine
