Mario Brunello & Gidon Kremer - Searching for Ludwig - Hi-Fi News

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The two main works here are Beethoven's String Quartets Op. 131 and Op. 135 transcribed for strings, the latter directed by cellist Mario Brunello, the C-sharp minor led by Kremer. A garish piece by Ferré, Muss es sein?, is rescored (cello, strings, percussion) with Ferré's manic vocal interjections over-dubbed. The other - far more approachable - new work, Note Sconte, rather dreamlike, was composed in memory of Franco Rossi, cellist in the Quartetto Italiano, and is based on Beethoven's fragments. The Kremerata playing is wonderful, solo strings alternating in Op. 131 with greater intimacy than in the last Quartet.