BRAHMS String Quartets: No. 1; No. 2; No. 3 * Auryn Qrt * TACET 155 (Multichannel DVD-A: 102:26)

Richard A. Kaplan reviewed the conventional two-channel CD issue of this set in Fanfare 32:2; he rightly praised the group's "remarkable ensemble, intonation, and rhythmic precision," but found the readings to be "consistently unbreathing and inflexible." I wouldn't go that far; I hear sufficient tempo differentiation from one section to another, although moment-to-moment phrasing is not very loose. As with Kaplan, one of my longtime favorites in this material is the Melos Quartet on DG, which employs a more relaxed, elastic Central European style. Still, I find the Auryn Quartet's traversal quite satisfactory. It's also your only choice if you're looking for the Brahms quartets in DVD-Audio.

The problem here for some listeners is that each instrument of the quartet comes from a different direction: the first violin from the left front, the viola from the right front, the cello from the right rear, and the second violin from the left rear. This is a configuration that you will never hear in nature, unless you are a music stand in a practice room. Somehow the effect is not claustrophobic; there's a bit of distance between the listener and the instruments. Not surprisingly, the individual lines are remarkably clear, and the viola has an unaccustomed prominence. But if you insist on a realistic concert-hall perspective, this DVD-A is not for you; nor should you consider it if you're using cheap "effects" speakers in the rear, because the instruments' timbres won't match and you may be creating balance problems. For many listeners, a better high-resolution-audio choice would be the Praz锟絢 Quartet's ed hardy hoodies Brahms series on Praga, if the label ever releases everything on SACD (it hasn't as of this writing).

One final two-part question: why did Tacet release the Auryn Quartet's collaboration with Peter Orth in the Brahms Piano Quintet on a separate DVD-A? Wouldn't there have been room for it on this single, long-duration disc? James Reel