Originally posted by kea
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For the Brahms Quintets, I suppose it depends on what you're after—if the Hagens aren't to your taste because you're after something more richly romantic, I will recommend the Quatuor Sine Nomine w/Raphaël Oleg (an extraordinarily deep, rich sound to the ensemble, interpretations large-scale and symphonic) or the more middle-of-the-road Nash Ensemble. The Leipziger Streichquartett & Rohde is recommendable for their trademark beautiful tone, and preferable to their Sextets in my view. I find the Raphael Ensemble equally beautiful but a bit too soft-edged and restrained, not as good as their Sextets recording.
I know this isn't a thread for the Sextets but while people have been recommending the Raphael Ensemble recording of those (which is indeed superb, and the qualities of restraint and soft-edgedness are less problematic there) no mention has been made of two additional recordings: L'Archibudelli (I know I say this a lot, but one of the best recordings of anything, ever) and the Talich Quartet & friends (ordinarily the kind of slow, vibrato-laden performance that would not work for me, but has a sense of rightness in the ensemble playing and large-scale interpretive decisions. I don't know if they ever recorded the Quintets, but if they did I imagine it would also be a recommendation.)
Surprised to see I am not the only one who prefers Op. 88 to Op. 111—the latter's incredibly powerful first movement is one of my favourite things in Brahms, but the rest of the piece does not really live up to it, whereas Op. 88 seems to hang together better as a work and is no smaller in scale or strength. For instance, the retransition to the first theme in its first movement is for me one of the most dramatic and exciting passages in Brahms's output. But whatever, 111 is generally accepted as the better work so who knows
I know this isn't a thread for the Sextets but while people have been recommending the Raphael Ensemble recording of those (which is indeed superb, and the qualities of restraint and soft-edgedness are less problematic there) no mention has been made of two additional recordings: L'Archibudelli (I know I say this a lot, but one of the best recordings of anything, ever) and the Talich Quartet & friends (ordinarily the kind of slow, vibrato-laden performance that would not work for me, but has a sense of rightness in the ensemble playing and large-scale interpretive decisions. I don't know if they ever recorded the Quintets, but if they did I imagine it would also be a recommendation.)
Surprised to see I am not the only one who prefers Op. 88 to Op. 111—the latter's incredibly powerful first movement is one of my favourite things in Brahms, but the rest of the piece does not really live up to it, whereas Op. 88 seems to hang together better as a work and is no smaller in scale or strength. For instance, the retransition to the first theme in its first movement is for me one of the most dramatic and exciting passages in Brahms's output. But whatever, 111 is generally accepted as the better work so who knows
absolutely gorgeous.
Thanks for a great recommendation.
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