BaL 5.1.19 - Debussy: String Quartet.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001wl9

For the first BaL of 2019, Laura Tunbridge "picks a personal favourite from among the recordings of Debussy's only String Quartet, written in 1893 when he was 31 years old. After abandoning his opera Rodrigue et Chimène, he planned to write two string quartets. But this was the only one he completed. It is full of sensual and impressionistic harmonies. Debussy wrote that 'any sounds in any combination and in any succession are henceforth free to be used in a musical continuity.' "

(Some) Available Recordings (as listed on Presto Classical https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...sort=relevance :

Quatuor Ebene (Erato, 2008)
Jerusalem Quartet (Harmonia Mundi, 2018)
Takacs Quartet (Hyperion, 2016)
Melos Quartet (DG)
Belcea Quartet (Warner)
Emerson Quartet (DG)
Chilingirian Quartet (CfP)
Talich Quartet (La Dolce Volta)
Juilliard Quartet (Sony)
Australian Quartet (ABC Classics)
Orpheus Quartet (Channel Classics)
Quatuor Modigliani (Mirare)
Tokyo Quartet (Sony)
Galatea Quartet (Sony)
La Salle Quartet (DG)
Arcanto Quartet (Harmonia Mundi)
Brodsky Quartet (Chandos)
Dante Quartet (Hyperion)
Quatuor Debussy (Timpani)
Bartok Quartet (Hungaroton)
Alexander Quartet (VDE-Gallo)
Momenta Quartet (Albany)
Amaryllis Quartet (Genuin)
Ceruti Quartet (MSR Classics)
Quartetto Nous (Amadeus Arte)
Sine Nomine Quartet (Artist Consort Edition)
Acies Quartet (Gramola)
Formosa Quartet (Warner Debut)
Vegh Quartet (Orfeo)
Alban Berg Quartet (Warner GROC)
Ysaye Quartet (Wigmore Hall Live)
Pro Arte Quartet (Archiphon)
Juilliard Quartet (RCA)
Quartetto Italiano (Urania)
Stuyvesant Quartet (Bridge)
Quartetto Italiano (Philips/Decca)
Orlando Quartet (Philips)
Kodaly Quartet (Naxos)
Medici Quartet (Nimbus)
Orlando Quartet (Accord)
Rubin Quartett (Arte Nova)
Quatuor Alcan (Analekta)
Signum Quartet (Capriccio)
Avalon Quartet (Cedille)
Marlboro Festival Quartet (Marlboro Recording Society)
Cuarteto Casals (HMGold)
Cuarteto Latinoamericano (Urtext)
Raphael Quartet (Globe)
Ysaye Quartet (Decca)
Fine Arts Quartet (Lodia)
New Zealand Quartet (Atoll)
Hagen Quartet (DG)
The Lindsays (ASV)
Orion Quartet (Delos)
New Hungarian Quartet (Vox)
Quatuor Calvet (Warner)
Quatuor Hermes (La Dolce Vita)
Quatuor Van Kuijk (Alpha)
The London String Quartet (Music & Arts)
The Hungarian Quartet (Music & Arts)
Schoenberg Quartet (Etcetera
Leipzig Quartet (MDG)
Parkanyi Quartet (Praga)
Quartetto Prometeo (Brilliant)
Vertavo Quartet (Simax)
Auryn Quartet (Tacet)
Cleveland Quartet (Telarc)
Kuijken Ensemble (Arcana)
Borodin Quartet (Alto)
Capet Quartet (Opus Kura)
Quatuor Danel (Fuga Libera)
Original Borodin Quartet (Chandos)

With apologies for the absence of an alphabetical listing during this "replacement bus" service. I thought it might make a pleasant after dinner game for Forumistas to do this for themselves.

(Ahh! The old "Cover Teacher" excuses still come in useful!)

[ardcarp]

Well done Ferney. And Joy of Joys! Let this be a good BAL please.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well done Ferney.

Thank you.

And Joy of Joys! Let this be a good BAL please.

Prof Tunbridge last presented the Schone Mullerin BaL six months ago - and was generally appreciated on the Forum, some reservations about her German pronunciation notwithstanding. I can't see that causing any problems in this case!

[Beef Oven!]

Nice one ferney

Surprised there are so many recordings (you've not made any of them up, have you? ).

I'm pleased that this work is being BaLed. It has never quite hit the spot for me, in the way that DSCH & BB s4tets hit the bullseye every time.

Hopefully it will all become clear and snap into focus for me during this Bal.

I have two recordings: Belcea Quartet on EMI and the Kodaly Quartet on Naxos.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Surprised there are so many recordings (you've not made any of them up, have you? ).

- I confess that when I saw so many S4tets whose names I'd never encountered before, I was tempted to stick in a "Christmas Cracker" to see if anyone noticed - but resisted! If there are any fake ensembles mentioned there, they're the invention of Presto Classical.

The "Marlboro Festival Quartet" is my own name for the ad hoc collection of individuals who were recorded in the work at the particular Marlboro Festival: just to save time & space coping out the four names. (And I'm pretty sure that the "Original Borodin Quartet" never gave themselves that designation, either.

[BBMmk2]

Well done Ferney! Hope this be a good BaL. I do have the Belcea and Tackacs to hand!

[Barbirollians]

Well done Ferney! Hope this be a good BaL. I do have the Belcea and Tackacs to hand!

I thought this was done relatively recently and the Belcea won ? I remember being very unimpressed that the QI was not even mentioned.

[Stanfordian]

It's the Quatuor Ebène and Italian Quartet here for me.

[Beresford]

There is also the eponymous Quatuor Debussy on Amazon.
And I suspect the Talich quartet, my provisional fave, (and I do like their Schubert "Death and the Maiden" recording), have a slightly different line-up in their most recent incarnation.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well done Ferney! Hope this be a good BaL.

[Beef Oven!]

There is also the eponymous Quatuor Debussy on Amazon.
And I suspect the Talich quartet, my provisional fave, (and I do like their Schubert "Death and the Maiden" recording), have a slightly different line-up in their most recent incarnation.

I think they named themselves after Debussy, rather than the other way around

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There is also the eponymous Quatuor Debussy on Amazon.

19th on the list (on the Timpani label)

[Beresford]

19th on the list (on the Timpani label)

Ah yes - I must have the wrong glasses.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I thought this was done relatively recently and the Belcea won ? I remember being very unimpressed that the QI was not even mentioned.

I had exactly the same suspicion, Barbs, but it's a case of tempus fugiting away as is its wont: that review (and the Belcea recommendation) was 14 over years ago, in November 2004!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ah yes - I must have the wrong glasses.

It's Christmastide - may all your glasses, right or wrong, be filled with the cheer of your choice!