Chausson String Quartet, Op. 35 (cpted. d’Indy).

Franck Piano Quintet in F minor ^a. ^a Michael Levinas (pf); Ludwig Quartet (Jean-Philippe Audoli, Elenid Owen, vns; Padrig Faure, va; Anne Copery, vc).

Naxos (Super budget price) (CD) 8 553645 (68 minutes: DDD).

Chausson had only completed two movements of his String Quartet at the time of his sudden death. Vincent d’Indy finished the third movement, adapting the composer’s sketches to conclude in C, the key of the whole work. The complete four-movement Quartet would surely have been one of Chausson’s finest achievements; the torso is fascinating, even if not entirely satisfying.

Curiously, the only other available recording also pairs it with the Franck Quintet; the performances, by both groups of both works, are fine ones. There is, however, a distinct contrast in playing and recording styles. Tacchino and the Athenaeum-Enesco Quartet adopt more spacious tempos, and are given a more spacious acoustic. In the big tutti sections of the Franck, this leads to a problem one often finds in live performances of this work, of the piano resonance swamping the string sound. But there’s some impressive grand-style pianism, and many imaginative interpretative touches. The Naxos recording of the Franck is more favourable to the strings, and rather more intimate. I certainly prefer the overall sound, even at the expense of losing some detail in the piano part, and it suits the players’ infectiously ardent, enthusiastic approach to the music.

The Chausson shows similar differences. In the lovely, tranquil second movement, the Athenaeum-Enesco are preferable, with better balance and more sensuous tone, but the Ludwig Quartet’s view of the third movement is far more compelling, with the different motifs of this strange, slowish Scherzo beautifully contrasted. I’d go for the new disc; nothing about it suggests the bargain basement.

DD