Review: The Sacconi Quartet****

Among the veritable glut of young string quartets that have recently emerged, the Sacconi stand out from the crowd, the critics unstinting in their praise for the British newcomers.

Safely installed on the concert circuit, it is the time to discard visually distracting mannerisms, exaggerated bowing and gazing towards the ceiling adding nothing to their outstanding musical gifts.

Maybe Haydn gave the first violin too much to enjoy in his fifth of the opus 76 quartets, that temptation proving too great, though

this was otherwise a fine account, dynamic shadings well handled and tempi, including the fast finale, being ideally chosen.

I thoroughly enjoyed their reading of the second of Beethoven's opus 18, the incisive opening allegro a foil for their lyric approach to the slow movement, and a finale that settled into its own natural flow.

With the Ravel quartet recently recorded, it had that "hot off the press" feel, the colours still to mellow with age, but now so invigorating, the pizzicato in the scherzo a series of firework crackers, and the finale as exciting as they come.

To bring us back to earth, Suk's quiet Meditation was a gorgeous encore conclusion.