Just five years after forming, the Bay Area’s Telegraph Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of serious depth and versatility, and the group’s terrific debut recording only serves to reinforce that judgment. The programming – a collection of comparatively little-known works by Webern, Britten and the late American modernist Leon Kirchner – bespeaks a wonderful boldness of spirit, and the performances, which are vibrant and full of exploratory fervor, follow through beautifully.

Here, the Telegraph Quartet’s interpretation sparkles with brilliant humor, balancing out the seriousness of the other works as they bring this exciting new disc to a close.

The perfectly crafted unity of their playing, as in the vivid triplets that begin Kirchner’s First Quartet, is as striking as are the smashing pizzicato notes and electrically sparking ponticello that enliven the whole disc.

This is a compelling music, and the Telegraph Quartet’s rhythmic acuity, rapid tempos and intense lyricism is stunning…The Telegraph Quartet is yet another brilliant young string quartet that makes chamber music so vital in today’s classical music performances. This disc showcases three unfamiliar 20th century works that modern quartet explorers will savor.

Like five epigrammatic character pieces from outer space, they conjure eerie landscapes, fantastic atmospheres as well as ineffable inner spaces. The Telegraph Quartet’s realization of these ‘jewels’ (Stravinsky) is crystalline and thoroughly engrossing.

Just five years after forming, the Bay Area’s Telegraph Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of serious depth and versatility, and the group’s terrific debut recording only serves to reinforce that judgment. The programming – a collection of comparatively little-known works by Webern, Britten and the late American modernist Leon Kirchner – bespeaks a wonderful boldness of spirit, and the performances, which are vibrant and full of exploratory fervor, follow through beautifully.

All the works here are bound to please a concert audience and this little collection of works dating a forty year period from 1909 to 1949 are excellent vehicles for this ensemble which sports a lush sound and a feeling for the proper shaping of melodies.