BaL 21.01.17 - Beethoven: String Quartet no. 12 in E flat, Op. 127

[aeolium]

I thought this was a really enjoyable BaL, partly because SJ allowed the performances to speak for themselves without undue pickiness and allowed for the validity of quite different interpretations rather than having one idea about how the work should go. Many of the extracts played sounded very fine - I thought the Italians were especially eloquent in that slow movement (how I wish I could have heard them live) - and although I didn't really care which version was chosen as the winner I was glad he made the choice without taking recording quality into account.

What a slow movement that is - perhaps my favourite of any quartet movement.

Btw, quite a few versions, including the Busch, are available to listen on the Naxos Music Library.

[DracoM]

Yes, have to say I was a bit baffled by AMcG's statement that the Belcea would be played. Erm..............Why?? Busch was SJ's choice, so.....?
Copyright? Or...........???

[Beef Oven!]

... with a residency in Basildon.

[RayC]

Two questions for the experts! Are the Belcea's performances of Beethoven Quartets on dvd the same as those on the CD? (If not has anyone made comparisons?) How does EMI's remastering of the Busch Quartet's SQ No 12 in the big set of Busch performances compare to that on Dutton Epoch ? The latter is a much cheaper way of getting a CD of it. Thanks RayC

[HighlandDougie]

Two questions for the experts! Are the Belcea's performances of Beethoven Quartets on dvd the same as those on the CD? (If not has anyone made comparisons?)

I'm no expert but the DVDs were recorded in Vienna, according to the notes on the box, helpfully reproduced in Bryn's post. The CDs were recorded (in the case of Op 127 and the others) in concert at the Britten Studio, Snape. I don't know the DVDs so cannot answer the question about comparisons between the different sets of performances (but doubt that there is a great deal of difference in approach, given that the performances were all in 2011/12).

[Richard Tarleton]

Not an expert - but (judging by the photos on the box on the Amazon site) the CDs are at least by the same line-up as the Vienna performances - whereas my CD of the Britten SQs (recorded at Potton Hall, Suffolk) has two different members (violin 2, cello) (I'm not an expert on the Belceas either).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, have to say I was a bit baffled by AMcG's statement that the Belcea would be played. Erm..............Why?? Busch was SJ's choice, so.....?
Copyright? Or...........???

The sound quality of the Busch Quartet was more than reasonable, so it seems a strange decision.

[underthecountertenor]

Yes, have to say I was a bit baffled by AMcG's statement that the Belcea would be played. Erm..............Why?? Busch was SJ's choice, so.....?
Copyright? Or...........???

I suspected that it was simply because SJ wasn't going to be allowed to get away with a mono recommendation, even though the sound is excellent.
Because the Busch was the door-opener for me, I don't have a problem with the portamenti. Indeed I rather miss them when they're not there!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I suspected that it was simply because SJ wasn't going to ba allowed to get away with a mono recommendation, even though the sound is excellent.

Yes - I did wonder if SJ avoided the Chinese Burns by telling AMcG that he was going to choose the Belceas, and putting the Busches in at the last minute - by which time, Sunday Morning had already been sorted out.

Because the Busch was the door-opener for me, I don't have a problem with the portamenti. Indeed I rather miss them when they're not there!

The portamenti didn't bother me: they were there throughout the performance just as was the Mono sound. But those scoops between the large intervals in the Slow Movement - I literally found them repulsive. Not at all the sort of sound I want to hear in Beethoven.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes - I did wonder if SJ avoided the Chinese Burns by telling AMcG that he was going to choose the Belceas, and putting the Busches in at the last minute - by which time, Sunday Morning had already been sorted out.

Is Sunday Morning pre-recorded?

[RayC]

Thanks to you both.
No one able to compare the EMI v Dutton remasterings? Oh I see Bryn has commented. Sorry Bryn and other folks - only second time on this site after long gap and head much fuzzied by ME so rather confused by simple practical things like finding all the posts!! But I do know Beethoven Late Quartets are truly sublime and wonderful and great listening for someone who is ill. NB Discovered JWN Sullivan's profound little book (of 1927) on "Beethoven: His Spiritual Development" last year - amazingly new copies still available (ISBN 9780394701004 s/h copies £0.1 plus £2.80 p&p on Amazon).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is Sunday Morning pre-recorded?

I don't know - but I would imagine that items and timings are sorted out well in advance, and that the 44 second time difference between the two performances alters everything!

[underthecountertenor]

Is Sunday Morning pre-recorded?

Definitely live.

[Mal]

Yes, have to say I was a bit baffled by AMcG's statement that the Belcea would be played. Erm..............Why?? Busch was SJ's choice, so.....?
Copyright? Or...........???

Yes, I was totally baffled by this, and am also waiting for an explanation. Even worse, James Jolly (Today, Sunday, 9.30am) said the Belcea was the Building a Library choice! If the BBC can just rewrite history as it fancies could we have Andy Murray beating Djokovic in the 2016 Australian Open final?

[visualnickmos]

Whatever the rights and wrongs of whose recommendation it actually was, The Busch recording did nothing for me, despite having been expertly cleaned up, it still sounds like an old recording (ie accoustically dreadful). I didn't like the style of playing at all - all that sliding around - most unpleasant.

Pity the Alban Berg Quartet got relatively short shrift. For many, I'm sure, including me, they were/are a bit of a benchmark. Although having said that, I was getting a little too used to their set (LvB SQs) and quite fancy at some stage acquiring another. I was rather impressed by the extracts from the Takacs... Save up a few more centimes, I suppose.....