These quartets don’t do what they should. Haydn mucks about with phrase lengths, harmonies and hierarchies – or rather he sets a new standard for the kind of daring and rogue vision with which every subsequent composer of string quartets has had to reckon. A potential danger for performers is overegging all that boldness, to signpost the surprises, to make the shock factor sound gaudy. Although big contrast is written into the Chiaroscuro name – and with period instruments that show up every gradation, they deliver on that promise – it is always done with exquisite taste. The playing is intense and refined, exploratory and poised. The sound is featherweight, but there is grit and substance when needed. Alina Ibragimova leads with typical grace and ferocity, but this is real chamber music: the attack is immaculate and spirited from all four musicians.
