Harmonia Mundi - up to 30% off

Enjoyable as other digital recordings of Beethoven's first quartets by (for example) the Takács and Lindsay Quartets are, this new Tokyo set just about pips all rivals to the post.
The reason... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

In some ways, the Tokyo Quartet on this splendid recorded CD seem almost too relaxed at the start of the American...[They] respond rather better to the tragic drama of Smetana's From My Life... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2013, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Op 74 is an underrated masterpiece… Robert Simpson's… description of the introductory poco adagio as lit from within by a quiet, human warmth, find an echo in the Tokyo String Quartet's interpretation... — Gramophone Magazine, March 2009 More…

Fine, bright tuning, a platinum-tipped first violin, minutely nuanced dynamics - you can hear it all, in the music of the spheres of the second quartet's second movement; in the harmonic suspense... — Hilary Finch, CD Review More…

the sound of this ensemble is something to marvel at, especially when it has been so beautifully recorded by Harmonia Mundi…these performances are notable for the superlative polish of the playing,... — International Record Review, January 2015 More…

both works receive performances that understand and warmly identify with Brahms's intentions: the playing is expressive and there is an obvious love of the music throughout. The Tokyo Quartet... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Almost all the players who perform here seem stirred enough by the music's pathos and power to rise to the occasion...[to give] an intense, sweeping account of the work. I have no complaints,... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2011, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Virtuosity serving profundity? An unlikely concept perhaps but it happens here...It's the shared experience that tells - the dovetailing of the parts, of knowing when to blend or separate, when... — Gramophone Magazine, November 2010 More…