An admirable new CD purports to reproduce an evening in Vienna in 1784 where Josef Haydn played the first violin, Mozart the viola, Baron von Dittersdorf the second violin, and Johann Baptist Vanhal the cello in an evening of string quartets written by the four players. Mozart's "Dissonant" quartet is familiar, as is Haydn's Op 33 No.5. Less well known are Dittersdorf's E flat quartet, and Vanhal's A major quartet. The four composers and their music are reunited on this splendid recording by the Bennewitz String Quartet, given its usual first class recording by the Supraphon team. All four works are highly enjoyable, the Vanhal perhaps being a big surprise, coming from a composer of whom I had never heard (his name is also sometimes spelled as "Wanhal"). Here, von Dittersdorf is in fourth place.
The Bennewitz Quartet has to be one of the very best currently playing. The four players are beautifully integrated, and play like one giant player with eight hands. This is a CD to keep at hand for whenever one wants to sit back and just listen to first-class music, expertly played and recorded. If it were not for the fact that it is still February, this would be my Record of the Year for 2025. But it's early days, yet.
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