The vigorous virtuosity of the Alban Berg Quartet's account of the Death and the Maiden Quartet vividly portrays Schubert's struggle against his fate, but the Brandis here offer an immensely powerful alternative. The first movement's startlingly violent central motif is made more intense by an agogic accent on the long note preceding the triplet, and the high emotional temperature is maintained by a wealth of textural detail and the inclusion of the exposition repeat. In the second movement, the Brandis's miraculous resolution of the rhythmically climactic third variation into the radiant major fourth one, culminates in the Scherzo's and finale's triumphant mood.