String Quartets Op 51 & 103
The unusual work of Haydn that takes up most of this disc is a series of  slow movements, unique in the string quartet literature until Shostakovich came  along. It's Haydn's arrangement of an orchestral work, but remains very moving  in this version. The other work on the disc is Haydn's last quartet, two  movements left incomplete because of, he said, his failing inspiration. You  wouldn't know it from the beauty of the movements he did write. The Kodály  Quartet plays all this music honestly and sincerely, but somehow their  performances lack eloquence; the music stays on the page. It's not bad playing,  but you might want to spend more for the expressive Tatrai Quartet (Hungaroton  HCD 12036).--Leslie Gerber