Search - Johannes Brahms, The Lindsays :: Brahms: String Sextets Nos. 1 & 2

Pleasant, light-weight readings, too casual for these profou

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 08/09/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Besides the Piano Quintet, the most orchestral chamber works that Brahms wrote were his two Sextets for strings. They contain a great deal of profound music, yet the Lindsays play them both like serenades--light, fairly fast, and with easy polish. On their own terms, these are pleasant readings. If you had never heard the tremendous passion of the Alban Berg and Amadeus Qt. version on EMI, or performances almost as great from Marlboro and a starry group headed by Isaac Stern and Yo-Yo Ma, both on Sony, the Lindsays might sound better. But there's no guts to their playing, and after a while it all glides by too easily."