Leipzig Quartet: Haydn

The Strad Issue: September 2026

Description: A slow-burn quartet cycle signs off in style

Musicians: Leipzig Quartet

Works: Haydn: String Quartets vol.22 op.76: no.1 in G major, no.5 in D major, no.6 in E flat major

Catalogue number: MDG MDG307 2386-2

The Leipzig Quartet’s slowly evolving Haydn survey finally alights on a trio of works from either end of the masterly op.76. What do these three have in common? They’re the ones that don’t have handy identifying nicknames. Curiously it’s taken the Leipzigers 15 years to get around to them and complete this opus, the disc containing the ‘Fifths’, ‘Emperor’ and ‘Sunrise’ quartets (vol.3) having been released as long ago as 2011. Consistent across that period are the ensemble’s virtues of cleanliness and accuracy of execution, in an attractively airy acoustic that works to the benefit of their combined sound, topped by the spun-silver tone of leader Stefan Arzberger’s 1746 Domenico Montagnana violin.

There’s mellowness, too, in the organ-like opening to no.1’s Adagio sostenuto, which is nevertheless – like all three slow movements – never allowed to sag, something that is always a danger at more traditional tempos. What is perhaps missing is the streak of devilry that is such a feature of Haydn’s finest music. It’s not that the Leipzig players short-change his humour but their self-contained tone to some extent downplays the bluff rusticity of minuets and finales. That said, there’s a nice folksiness, however, to no.5’s closing Presto, although more could have been made of the loud/soft contrasts.

All the same, as the Leipzig Quartet at last brings down the curtain on its Haydn project, it’s worth reflecting on a cycle that has prized consistency and clarity even if, at times, the full implications of this music have been hinted at rather than plumbed.

DAVID THREASHER