Fun string quartets from Chopin's teacher

Jozef Elsner: String Quartets, op. 8

The Silesian composer Jozef Elsner is best known as Chopin's teacher, but he was also one of the most distinguished administrators in both the theatrical and musical worlds in Poland. Still, on the evidence of these three string quartets published in 1806 his skill as a composer would have eventually Elsner put on the map; one hopes that this excellent album will help to do that very thing. The Equilibrium String Quartet is made up of talented young musicians playing period instruments, and their cohesion as a group is evidence of diligent work and knowledge of historical practice as well as musical skills. While obviously designed for the salon rather than the more lofty artistic reach of his contemporaries Haydn (who had finished all of his quartets by then) and Beethoven (who at the time was about to begin his middle-period Razumovsky Quartets, op. 59), Elsner's quartets have a concertante focus. They're all well-wrought and are designed to showcase the virtuosity of each instrumentalist in turn. More importantly, they're fun to listen to, and for that, I think, we have to thank the Equilibrium String Quartet as much as Jozef Elsner.