Mellow, over-reverberant Mozart from the Emerson Quartet

​This is well-played Mozart - gracious, sweet and smooth as butter. I'm just not sure that's all what we want in Mozart, however. Compared to earlier (DG) recordings of Mozart quartets played by the Emersons, this one is curiously mellow and lush. Listening once again to those DG recordings, one immediately hears a sense of life, energy and articulation which are sorely muted on this new SONY.

Admittedly, SONY must be blamed in large part. They provide a much too reverberant acoustic which swallows the quartet into a swampy abyss, muddying textures, articulation and dynamics. It may be lovely and gorgeous, but it seriously sounds like they've been recorded in a gymnasium. And that just isn't acceptable for Mozart. 

If you want to relax with a glass of wine in front of the fire as you get ready for bedtime, this recording will lull you right off to sleep.