The Status Quo Of String Quartets

Rather unkindly, I tend to think of the Lindsays as the Status Quo of string quartets. They had a comparably long career and discography but listening again to this cd ( the only one that I have by them ) I realise that any negative associations such a description may have do not apply. This disk is of the three Haydn String Quartets in Op 76. These are relatively late quartets, written once he was freed of his kapellmeister duties with the Esterhazy court, and show an increasingly symphonic style. They are full of invention, fire and good taste. It is interesting to hear the use in the third quartet of the theme from the Austrian National Hymn that Haydn had composed for the birthday of the Emperor in 1797 and which has eventually evolved into Deutschland Uber Alles the current German national anthem. There are fewer rough edges than is sometimes the case with the Lindsays, who are well suited to Haydn.