Dvorák’s American quartet has never been short of fine advocates on record. It must have been one of the first Dvorák works to be recorded – there’s a beautiful 1928 performance by the Bohemian Quartet available on a fascinating double-album entitled The Czech Quartet Tradition (from Buddulph). It’s a piece that doesn’t respond especially well to the high-tension playing of many modern quartets; my shortlist would include the Smetana Quartet (on Testament), the Janácek Quartet (currently immured in a 7-CD set on DG) and the Quartetto Italiano’s 1970s recording, mysteriously unavailable for years. I suppose that some might find the opening of the Jerusalem Quartet’s new version rather over-projected; it’s certainly possible to sound more relaxed than they do. They do make a glorious sound, lit from within by Amichai Grosz’s fabulous viola playing. As on their previous two albums for Harmonia Mundi, the Jerusalems make no attempt to hide the strong personalities of their members. The result is not always ideally blended, but it’s always compelling; I haven’t enjoyed a performance of the American so much for years. Their coupling, the inspired Second Piano Quintet, makes an unexpected and most welcome pairing, with the Jerusalems’ fiery response tempered by Stefan Vladar’s patrician piano playing. This is another highly recommendable volume in Harmonia Mundi’s burgeoning Dvorák series.

Reviewed by Sandy Matheson