Streichquartett der Staatskapelle Berlin - Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Puccini - Gramophone

Formed in 2017 by the orchestra’s section leaders at the suggestion of Daniel Barenboim, the Berlin Staatskapelle Quartet make their recording debut with Verdi’s sole Quartet and Tchaikovsky’s First, composed roughly contemporaneously (1873 and 1871 respectively), to which Puccini’s lovely Crisantemi from 1890 has been added as a melancholy envoi, effectively summing up the disc’s prevailingly bittersweet mood. The performances are extremely fine, often intense, at times strikingly weighty.

... an engaging album and a fine debut.