String Quartets Vol.2 (Incls 'Simple Symphony, Op. 4')

"The magnificent finale, a Recitative and Passacaglia composed as a tribute to the city of Venice, haunts the memory long after the last note has died away, and the Maggini Quartet finely balances the movement between the need to press forward and music's elegiac reluctance to yield up its final goodbye." ClassicsToday 10/10

"Although Britten is principally known for his operas and vocal works, there is much to explore in his instrumental oeuvres. This is the second of the Naxos discs devoted to his string quartet compositions and it's a beauty. The Maggini String Quartet was formed in 1988 and named after the well known early seventeenth century Brescian violin maker Giovanni Paolo Maggini, and example of which is played by violinist David Angel. I am familiar with their Naxos recording of chamber music by E.J. Moeran, well worth exploring.

"The Third Quartet is a very profound and ultimately serene work, and the Maggini Quartet feels every ounce of it's sorrowful beauty. Need I say that this is one of the great performances and bargains in the Naxos catalog?"
--Review by Robert Moon Audiophile Audition, March, 2000

"The Maggini Quartet shows control, conviction and great musicality in the fleeting beauty of the Third Quartet..."
--Review by Patrick Szersnovicz, Le monde le la musique, January, 2000

"[The Maggini Quartet's] account of the trickily allusive Third Quartet is, and will surely remain, hard to beat."
--Review by Arnold Whittall, Gramophone Critics' choice, 1999