Beethoven String Quartets on record

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Tapiola
    Full Member
    • Jan 2011
    • 1690

    #31
    Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
    Historical - Busch Quartet.

    Classics - Italiano
    Oh yes.

    Any takers for the (first) Lindsays set? Not the most polished, but aint that Beethoven?

    Comment

    • MickyD
      Full Member
      • Nov 2010
      • 4832

      #32
      Originally posted by Bryn View Post
      Re. HIPP, I would strongly recommend the Eroica Quartet CD of Op.74, 95 & 135, if you can find it.
      I agree with you, Bryn. Sadly it's life seems to have been short lived....but I see you can get it as a download, not that that would interest me.

      Comment

      • mathias broucek
        Full Member
        • Nov 2010
        • 1303

        #33
        Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
        Historical - Busch Quartet.

        Classics - Italiano, various Juilliards...

        Personal best - Vegh Quartet. Nothing showy, exaggerated or overtly polished, not even the most disciplined - just a warmth, intimacy, real dialogue between the players, and a soul-baring depth.
        "Provincial" in the best sense.

        If you've heard Sandor Vegh as conductor of Haydn or Mozart in Salzburg, then you'll understand.
        Agree on the Italians and Vegh. Used to borrow the latter from the library all the time.

        Comment

        • ferneyhoughgeliebte
          Gone fishin'
          • Sep 2011
          • 30163

          #34
          Originally posted by Tapiola View Post
          Any takers for the (first) Lindsays set? Not the most polished, but aint that Beethoven?
          I've only heard individual discs from this set, Tapi - they are very good indeed, some off-putting sniffing aside. But I'm biased in favour of the Lindsays - they were the ensemble that I heard playing the complete cycle "Live".
          [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

          Comment

          • Don Petter

            #35
            Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
            But I'm biased in favour of the Lindsays - they were the ensemble that I heard playing the complete cycle "Live".
            That sparks me to put in possibly an 'old fogy's' vote. (Not that I heard either of these live, but first record collecting impressions, before any live hearings in the concert hall, do also colour one's choice of favourites.)

            Hollywood Quartet (Late quartets and GF) on Testament, or Pristine (not heard but transfers highly praised).

            Budapest Quartet, from 1950s Philips mono, not the stereo, as on CD from United Archives.

            Comment

            • Tapiola
              Full Member
              • Jan 2011
              • 1690

              #36
              Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
              I've only heard individual discs from this set, Tapi - they are very good indeed, some off-putting sniffing aside. But I'm biased in favour of the Lindsays - they were the ensemble that I heard playing the complete cycle "Live".
              Is there an envy emoticon, ferney?

              Yes, sniffs, but it's what Ludwig would have wanted

              Comment

              • Tapiola
                Full Member
                • Jan 2011
                • 1690

                #37
                Originally posted by Don Petter View Post
                Hollywood Quartet (Late quartets and GF) on Testament, or Pristine (not heard but transfers highly praised).
                The Hollywoods! How could I forget! My first exposure to the late quartets, Don, as a mere youth. Rather strident EMI LPs if I remember...? But the interpretations...

                Comment

                • Bryn
                  Banned
                  • Mar 2007
                  • 24688

                  #38
                  O.k., the first complete set I got was that by Quartetto Italiano (on LP) and I was quite simply besotted with it. Over the decades, however, I have come to hold the set recorded by the Talich Quartet in higher regard. Though I now have rather more than a dozen complete surveys available in CD format, it is that by the Talich Quartet it return to the most often. So far I have only listen to a couple of the discs from Volume 1 of the Belcia Quartet's survey, and those I have heard I find highly musical. I was going to go for the 96/24 FLACs fo Volume 2 on offer from the Linn site. They were nearly twice the price of the CD quality downloads, but still cheaper than the CDs. However, they seem to have nearly doubled in price over night, so it will probably be another box of CDs after all.

                  Comment

                  • richardfinegold
                    Full Member
                    • Sep 2012
                    • 7747

                    #39
                    Originally posted by Tapiola View Post
                    Oh yes.

                    Any takers for the (first) Lindsays set? Not the most polished, but aint that Beethoven?
                    To many intonation issues with the lead Violinist, so this set comes a Cropper...

                    Comment

                    • richardfinegold
                      Full Member
                      • Sep 2012
                      • 7747

                      #40
                      There are many good suggestions here. I have several sets, but I admit that except for the Tokyo's SACD set on Harmonia Mundi, I haven't heard any that have been recorded in the last decade or so.
                      The Hungarian Quartet recording of the Middle Quartets (Razumovsky 1-3, Harp, Serioso) was my introduction to String Quartets, and I immediately was seduced by the sound of a Quartet. I particularly love the contrapuntal play with the Cello and Viola. My favorite Concert experiences in the past few years have involved a series of Quartets playing in a small venue
                      with perfect acoustics in my village.
                      On recordings, there is a tremendous variety of sound signatures that different Quartets produce. Central European ensembles such as Vegh and Talich sound very different from the American ensembles such as the Guarneri or Emersons. The Tokyo and the Italiano produce a highly refined sound that occassionally misses some of the Beethoven bite
                      Many critics think that no one Quartet does justice to all 3 periods of Beethoven Quartets, and that one should mix and match.
                      My suggestion to the OP would be to by one of the cycles that are being offered at steep discount, such as Tokyo or Guarneri. Get to know and enjoy the music, and then supplement individual works. In the era of downloading it is much easier to buy a single Quartet recording than previously, when one usually had to buy a whole set.

                      Comment

                      • akiralx
                        Full Member
                        • Oct 2011
                        • 429

                        #41
                        Very in-depth survey here - but if you're fond of older recordings like the Amadeus, better look away now...

                        Blogger is a blog publishing tool from Google for easily sharing your thoughts with the world. Blogger makes it simple to post text, photos and video onto your personal or team blog.

                        Comment

                        • Don Petter

                          #42
                          I should have said earlier that I add my voice to the recommendations for the Italians as complete cyclists. (Could have phrased that better ... unintended hint of lycra).

                          Perhaps a sacrilegious admission here - I don't really have much time for the Early (Op.18) quartets, except in a once-in-a-while Mozartian way. I came to the cycle via the Late quartets, which I don't think are at all too 'difficult' to act as an introduction. Difficult to ever exhaust the endless joys of the music within, yes.

                          Comment

                          • verismissimo
                            Full Member
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 2957

                            #43
                            Originally posted by LaurieWatt View Post
                            ... I am conscious of a serious gap in my collection of recorded music, namely, the Beethoven String Quartets and Grosse Fugue...
                            Knowing of your extraordinary depth of musical Knowledge, Laurie, I stepped back in amazement. What joys to come!

                            And with so much emphasis in this thread on the late quartets, it's easy to forget how wonderful (and revolutionary) the early opus 18 set is.

                            I can't pretend to have surveyed the field, but when I reach for them, it's usually for the early Lindsays recordings.

                            But then, like ferney, I heard that great quartet play them (rather often over the years).

                            Of current young quartets, the Heaths remind me most of the Lindsays.

                            Comment

                            • Tapiola
                              Full Member
                              • Jan 2011
                              • 1690

                              #44
                              Originally posted by richardfinegold View Post
                              To many intonation issues with the lead Violinist, so this set comes a Cropper...

                              Comment

                              • amateur51

                                #45
                                Originally posted by verismissimo View Post

                                Of current young quartets, the Heaths remind me most of the Lindsays.
                                I'm very pleased to read another positive review for this young quartet - they're coming to London's Wigmore Hall soon. I don't think they've made any recordings yet.

                                Here's their forthcoming concert listing

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X