David Geringas is one of the most versatile musicians of our time known to perform an unusually broad repertoire as both a cellist and a conductor. Alongside his friends the Gringolts Quartet he has endeavored to bring to light rarely recorded works by Walter Braunfels and Richard Strauss a rich selections that are meticulously balanced.and well shaped.

The repertoire for bassoon is not exactly overflowing. There are even fewer pieces written specifically for bassoon and string quartet. Since it is a very appealing instrumentation that also favours numerous performance possibilities for concerts (a quartet is easier to book than a symphony orchestra), Rui Lopes has asked composer friends to write pieces for him. Numerous musicians have responded to this request and two works have found their way onto the album “Close Encounters”: the whimsical “Gott-Fa, Two scenes for Bassoon and String Quartet” by Helena Winkelman and the jazzy “Rui’s Tango for Bassoon and String Quintet” by bandoneonist Marcelo Nisinman. In addition, there are pieces that were specially arranged for this unusual instrumentation at Rui’s request and the original Quintet for Bassoon and String Quartet in A minor by Edouard du Puy.

Arnold Schoenberg’s second string quartet – included on a previous release by the Gringolts Quartet – is often used as a reference point when the emergence of atonality is discussed. That work, where Schoenberg in the fourth movement suddenly does away with a time signature, was composed in 1907, three years after his first work in the genre: the String Quartet in D minor, Op. 7, a work which still has much in common with the Late Romantic idiom of Richard Strauss.

The three string quartets, Op. 41, of Robert Schumann date from the middle of 1842, the same period when he also composed the Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44, so their inclusion together in this double-disc album from Onyx is appropriate, if slightly curious. While the Piano Quintet is among the most popular pieces in the chamber repertoire, the string quartets have languished in a state of comparative neglect and are relatively under-represented in the catalog. The shadow of Beethoven loomed large over many composers in the 19th century, and the example of his extraordinary late string quartets made successors appear lacking by comparison; this is the most likely explanation for the weak standing of Schumann's Op. 41, and why the Piano Quintet escaped invidious comparisons. Yet these clear-eyed and thoughtful performances by the Gringolts Quartet demonstrate that Schumann's abilities in the string quartet genre were considerable, and they show his careful balancing of the parts and bring out the motivic coherence he derived from Beethoven. The Gringolts are absolutely secure in playing these works, but there is a noticeable burst of energy and enthusiasm that they bring to the Piano Quintet, which is shared by pianist Peter Laul. Onyx provides fairly focused recording of the strings, but the piano recedes into the background, perhaps because of the microphone's placement in the highly resonant church acoustics.

Before Felix Mendelssohn produced his Octet for strings in 1825, only Louis Spohr had composed for a similar combination of instruments. Rather than an octet, however, Spohrs work was a double quartet written for two equal but independent string quartets. Mendelssohn, on the other hand, treated the eight instruments as a single unit, collaborating in symphonic orchestral style, as he himself put it. He was only sixteen when he composed the Octet, full of a youthful ardour that has made it one of his most popular works. It is a farewell to the Mozartian style that had characterized Mendelssohns early production and at the same time a first step on the way to Romanticism.