"SPARKLE AND SPIRIT (headline)...The Fine Arts Quartet finished their spring season in fine form last Sunday, proving that well-known works can sound fresh and exciting when performed by master musicians...This performance showed the Fine Arts at their best, with a rich sound and effortless musicality."
(Charles Grosz, ExpressMilwaukee.com, April 16, 2008) Full review
"This ensemble exudes mature, seasoned musicianship. Together for many years, its members do not try to showboat or emote; they focus on the music...And they have the sine qua non of every great string quartet, which is a strong second violinist. Efim Boico brings first-violin chops and presence, but willingly subsumes himself into the quartet fabric."
(Washington Post, March 10, 2008)
"FINE ARTS QUARTET SUCCEEDS WITH PRECISION, SUBTLETY (headline)...The Fine Arts Quartet is an American institution. They have a presence in the world of recorded music that makes the opportunity to hear them live irresistible...The quartet has a product that is extremely well-sanded with a core of interpretive values that impressed repeatedly throughout the evening. Simple things, often: the release of a chord, resonance created through matched vibrato, octave playing balanced perfectly across registers, tempi adjusted in subtle, effortless ways...The ecstatic atmosphere set the stage for an effervescent finale...The precision was emblematic of the evening; four players in a state of motion shaping a series of core interpretive values."
(The Hartford Courant, November 29, 2007) Full Review
"We were in the company of four of today`s greatest chamber music players...The Fine Arts Quartet placed the work under a magnifying glass, picking up on the smallest and most delicate of details, presenting not a showy interpretation but rather one of fine detail and humility...
The Fine Arts Quartet was using its large palette of colors to remind us that music is a form of entertainment, a play of layers and textures, a feast of the senses."
(gojerusalem.com, October 25, 2007)
"MAGIQUE - FINE ARTS QUARTET (titres)...Avec la venue, hier, du Fine Arts Quartet, le Festival de Menton a vécu hier une de ses grandes soirées...Leur interprétation eut une douceur magique; elle fut modèle de souplesse, de cohérence, de musicalité."
(Nice Matin, 18 August 2007)
"Avec le Fine Arts Quartet on entrait dans une autre dimension. Ralph Evans (1 er violon), Efim Boico (2 nd violon), Yuri Gandelsman (alto) et Wolfgang Laufer (violoncelle) forment le plus beau des équipages qu'aurait pu rêver d'avoir Franz Schubert afin de jouer son fameux quatuor "Rosamunde". Tout en grâce et en délicatesse, le Fine Arts Quartet nous restituait le charme de cette partition...Toute la spontanéité et la clarté de sa musique, toute la dimension émotive de son écriture étaient là, sous les archets subtils du Fine Arts Quartet."
(L'Independant, 03 Aout 2007)
"Das Fine Arts Quartet gehört zu den traditionereichsten wie berühmtesten Quartettformationen der Gegenwart. Den vier amerikanischen Musikern im Rahmen der Quintseence-Konzerte in Aachen zu begegnen, wurde denn auch zu einem Erlebnis besonderer Art. Nicht oft präsentiert sich im Krönungssaaal ein Kammermusikensemble dieses Ranges."
(Aachener Zeitung, March 26, 2007) Full review
"Their tone is warm, rich, colourful...Without question, the Fine Arts Quartet has something that touches the imagination, as if they were possessed of a Keatsian 'Negative Capability' that allows them to put off who they are and to give expression to the music as it is."
(Showtimemagazine.ca, February 8, 2007) Full review
"The Fine Arts Quartet played like angels for their appearance at the Phoenix Chamber Music Society. Every phrase was thoughtful, every thought was musical."
(Arizona Republic, December 8, 2006)
"GLORIOUS QUARTET PLAYING! (headline)...brilliant individual playing and amazingly dramatic climaxes. This was quartet playing at its best."
(Peninsula Reviews, December 1, 2006)
"The Fine Arts [Quartet] musicians play together all the time and have a deeply ingrained mutual artistic vision."
(SanDiego.com, August 5, 2006)
"So verhalten zu beginnen, dazu gehören Mut und Können. Für die vier eleganten Herren ist das kein Thema. Seit Jahrzehnten spielen sie zusammen. 200 Werke haben sie im Repertoire, die sie mal so eben aus der Tasche ziehen können. Da herrscht Sicherheit und Selbstvertrauen. Sie spielen auf den Punkt genau zusammen. Phrasierungen, Pausen, Dynamik - alles, als wenn es eine Person wäre...
Was das Fine Arts Quartet...vorführte, war atemberaubend."
(Hamburger Abendblatt, 4. August 2006) Full review
"The Fine Arts Quartet played with the expected flawless expertise they've been showing off for years... Schubert's sensational masterpiece...received an emotionally riveting performance."
(SanDiego.com, June 15, 2006)
"The Fine Arts Quartet has a big and full sound, reminiscent of the Guarnieri during their heyday, but which they could turn off to fit the occasion. Playing the Lento, their tone was eerily dry. They used this big group tone throughout Mozart's Quartet, an old-school approach, but musically validated by their excellent performance. They brought similar emotion, precision, and beauty of tone to Beethoven's Quartet...The Fine Arts Quartet is an ensemble belonging to the first tier of string quartets."
(Christian Hertzog, SanDiego.com, June 11, 2006)
"The quality of the ensemble work, ravishing sound and interpretive abilities continue to make Fine Arts Quartet one of the most impressive groups playing today."
(Alan Becker, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, May 13, 2006)
"These musicians play together with mature artistry, strong technique, rhythmic freedom and good rapport."
(The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, May 10, 2006)
"The group gave...a tight and skilled performance, demonstrating an excellent sense of ensemble."
(Washington Post, May 6, 2006)
"Das Fine Arts Quartet demonstrierte erneut seine herausragende Klangkultur, Spielperfektion und sein märchenhaft vertrautes Zusammenspiel."
(Aachener Zeitung, Feb. 14, 2006)
"MEISTER IM QUARTETTSPIEL (Überschrift)...Das braucht Meister im Quartettspiel. Also solche, die dann auch im langsamen Satz von Schumanns F-Dur-Quartett op.41,2 diese raffinierten harmonischen Einfälle so verführerisch spielen können, dass man glaubt, sie zum ersten Mal zu hören. Die Fine-Arts-Leute legen da den Finger auf Klangfarben und Modulationen, die, so eingekleidet, bei Schumann eher überraschen."
(Kölnische Rundschau, Feb. 11, 2006) Full review
"Ten hands, five hearts, one mind. Gorgeous."
(Maureen Lipman, The Guardian, February 10, 2006)