String Quartets

Grieg's only completed string quartet, Op. 27, usually sounds more like a reduction of an orchestral score than a work of chamber music. It's an attractive enough piece, but don't expect the kind of instrumental interplay you hear in the most famous quartets from Haydn to Shostakovich. The Oslo Quartet's strongly played interpretation makes a good case for it. Grieg's other half-quartet, in F, was a later piece that he never completed, and you can understand why when you hear it; it's neither prime Grieg nor totally uninteresting. The quartet by Johansen (1888-1974) was composed in 1969 but doesn't sound any more "advanced" in style than Grieg, so it makes a good coupling. --Leslie Gerber