Quatuor Voce

This could well act as a musical metaphor for the Quatuor Voce, whose cantabile eloquence and tantalising espressivo restraint can be traced back at least as far as the classic Italian Quartet of the 1960s. Yet underlying the beguiling naturalness of their phrasing, and without resorting to HIP (historically informed practice) shock tactics, microcosmic inflections of internal balancing, articulation, dynamic and tonal colour combine to create a deeply compelling sense of emotional narrative. (…) However, the Quartet really comes into its own in the Schubert, in which the distinction between major and minor becomes so elusively obfuscated that at times it is hard to keep pace with the composer’s sleight-of-hand transitioning. To hear the Voce players tracing the music’s high-speed expressive interchanges with such acute sensitivity, captured in thrillingly tactile, lifelike sound, has been one of the highlights of my listening year.