BaL 10.10.20 - Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor

[jayne lee wilson]

What is BnF? I have a feeling that what you are labeling as distanced, I am referring to as muffled.
I am having difficulty locating in finding HQ Brahms today...I’ve been moving piles of CDs around during quarantine as part of another attempt at reorganization, having run out of shelf space a few years ago, and my aural memory might be confused with the HQ Shostakovich Quintet, which I did find and I am spinning now, which sounds a bit muffled but certainly listenable.
I did look for a YouTube posting of the Brahms, but the only one found was taken down.
At any rate, my preference remains Fleisher/Julliard, and the Jando/Kodaly remains a strong alternative.

...Bibliothèque National Française, a vast archive of Historical recordings, fairly well done & often in hi-res, if usually rather warts and all as to their source-treatment....you'd have to look elsewhere for ultimate transfer quality.
There are many of these on Qobuz, often of high artistic value; click on the booklet symbol with the given file to read more.

I only used "a little distanced" about OP. 51/2; and the operative word for the 1952/54/57/58 SQ differences truly is "slightly"....
But even that noisy BnF transfer of OP.34, a bit unrefined and shouty as it is, shows the potential for clarity and vividness.....
I can't think of any Hollywood Quartet Testament transfers that were less than very pleasing, on a variety of systems over some 20 years now - classics of the remasterer's art, they quickly became sonic/musical favourites and remain so.

I would never have said "muffled" about any of them.... the 1952 DSCH, playing now, has astonishing immediacy, detail and dynamism; a feature of all the transfers is the beautifully balanced piano; never boomy, clangy or overbearing..... ....but there you go.

[richardfinegold]

...Bibliothèque National Française, a vast archive of Historical recordings, fairly well done & often in hi-res, if usually rather warts and all as to their source-treatment....you'd have to look elsewhere for ultimate transfer quality.
There are many of these on Qobuz, often of high artistic value; click on the booklet symbol with the given file to read more.

I only used "a little distanced" about OP. 51/2; and the operative word for the 1952/54/57/58 SQ differences truly is "slightly"....
But even that noisy BnF transfer of OP.34, a bit unrefined and shouty as it is, shows the potential for clarity and vividness.....
I can't think of any Hollywood Quartet Testament transfers that were less than very pleasing, on a variety of systems over some 20 years now - classics of the remasterer's art, they quickly became sonic/musical favourites and remain so.

I would never have said "muffled" about any of them.... the 1952 DSCH, playing now, has astonishing immediacy, detail and dynamism; a feature of all the transfers is the beautifully balanced piano; never boomy, clangy or overbearing..... ....but there you go.

Well, horses for courses, I find the DSCH Quintet a little recessed, lacking the impact of my two digital versions. I prefer mono recordings from this era from Mercury, or Columbia (the Oistrakh/ Mitropolous NYP Shostakovich First VC doesn’t suffer at all from mono, perhaps even is enhanced). The Decca Eloquence discs that I’ve bought from this era sound far worse than the HQ recordings,and most of the RCAs leave me wanting as well, try some of the Monteux or don’t even get near the Toscanini....
This is however Audiophilia picky kind of stuff, really tangential. The HQ mono recordings are certainly listenable and more importantly the musicianship treasurable. I always wondered why Felix Slatkin wasn’t nearly as well known as his less talented offspring, not realizing his early demise. These recordings have a palpable edge and intensity that modern players don’t easily realize.
Listening to the Jando/Kodaly now. This is probably the best work that I’ve ever heard from both the Quartet and the Pianist. They must have enjoyed a good bowl of goulash before the session

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

BaL 10.10.20 - Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor

9.30 Building a Library
Lucy Parham chooses her favourite recording of Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor

Brahms completed his Piano Quintet in 1864 and it is scored for piano and string quartet. The work is often called “the crown of his chamber music”. In this piece Brahms explores adventurous and unsettling harmonies and there is a fine balance between piano and strings. The consistently dark mood of the Quintet has been described as “at times anguished, at times demonic, at times tragic.”

Available versions:-

Leif Ove Andsnes, Artemis Quartet *
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Cleveland Orchestra String Quartet
Silke Avenhaus, Arcanto Quartet *
Emanuel Ax, Cleveland Quartet
Paul Badura-Skoda, Kuchl Quartet
Eva Bernathova, Janacek Quartet
Philippe Bianconi, Quartet Sine Nomine *
Idil Biret, London String Quartet
Busch Quartet
Concertante *
Neal Peres Da Costa, Ironwood
Geoffroy Couteau, Quatuor Hermès
Clifford Curzon, Budapest String Quartet
Christoph Eschenbach, Amadeus Quartet
Edith Farnadi, Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet *
Till Fellner, Belcea Quartet
Leon Fleischer, Emerson String Quartet
Leon Fleischer, Juillard String Quartet *
Peter Frankl, Artis Quartet, Wien
Peter Frankl, Lindsay String Quartet
La Gaia Scienza
Gil Garburg, Nomos Quartet
Kirill Gerstein, Hagen Quartett
Glenn Gould, Walter Joachim, Otto Joachim, Mildred Goodman, Hyman Bress
Paul Gulda, Hagan Quartet
Werner Haas, Kunio Tsuchiya, Peter Steiner, Rudolf A Hartmann, Alfred Malecek
Conrad Hansen, Amadeus Quartet
Clara Haskil, Winterthur Quartet *
Dame Myra Hess, Griller String Quartet *
Stephen Hough, Takács Quartet
William Howard, Schubert Ensemble
Lucia Huang, Hába Quartett
Jeno Jando, Kodaly Quartet
Gunnar Johansen, Pro Arte Quartet *
Paul Komen, Rubio String Quartet
Matthias Kirschnereit, Amaryllis Quartett
Sona Krivcikova
Natacha Kudritskaya, Brodsky Quartet
Piers Lane, New Budapest Quartet *
Peter Laul, Gringolts Quartet
Elisabeth Leonskaja, Alban Berg Quartett
Éric Le Sage; Quatuor Strada
Oleg Maisenberg, Hagen Quartett *
Claudio Martínez Mehner, Cuarteto Casals *
Jon Nakamatsu, Tokyo String Quartet *
Nash Ensemble
Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Modigliano Quartet
Peter Orth, Auryn Quartet
Alfredo Perl, Hartmut Rohde, Guido Schiefen, Michaela Paetsch-Neftel, Rahel Cunz
Pihtipudas Kvintetti
Maurizio Pollini, Quartetto Italiano
Menahem Pressler, Pacifica Quartet
Andre Previn, Musikvereinsquartett
André Previn, Yale String Quartet *
Quintetto Fauré di Roma *
Dezsõ Ránki, Bartók Quartet *
Sviatoslav Richter, Borodin Quartet
Sviatoslav Richter, Tátrai String Quartet
Arthur Rubinstein, Guarneri String Quartet *
Arthur Rubinstein, Arnold Steinhardt, John Dalley, Michael Tree, David Soyer *
Gloria Saarinen, Orford String Quartet
St.Petersburg Chamber Players *
Pnina Salzman, Tel Aviv String Quartet
András Schiff, Takács Quartet
Rudolf Serkin, Budapest Quartet
Rudolf Serkin, Busch Quartet *
Peter Serkin, Guarneri Quartet
Silesian Chamber Soloists
Andreas Staier, Leipziger Streichquartett
Yevgeny Sudbin, Hrachya Avanesyan, Boris Brovtsyn, Alexander Chaushian, Diemut Poppen
George Szell, Budapest String Quartet
Rosa Tamarkina, Bolshoi Theatre Quartet
Uriel Tsachor, Amati Quartet *
Reiko Uchida, Formosa Quartet
Eliso Virsaladze, Borodin Quartet *
Gilles Vonsattel, Frank Huang, Anthony Marwood, Richard O’Neill, Paul Watkins *
Rian de Waal, Allegri String Quartet *
Yamamoto, Quatuor Ebène
Joyce Yang, Alexander String Quartet *
Lilya Zilberstein, Mark Drobinsky, Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg, Mark Dobrinskji, Lucy Hall, Dora Schwarzberg *

* = download only

[LMcD]

Is it my imagination, or is the proportion of 'download onlys' in your admirable lists steadily increasing? I have the Werner Haas/BPO Octet members as a Philips Duo, and also, on a BBC MM recording, Ralph Kirshbaum and others. recorded in Palo Alto.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Is it my imagination, or is the proportion of 'download onlys' in your admirable lists steadily increasing? I have the Werner Haas/BPO Octet members as a Philips Duo, and also, on a BBC MM recording, Ralph Kirshbaum and others. recorded in Palo Alto.

It's not your imagination. I've noticed it when typing asterisks.

[Bryn]

It's not your imagination. I've noticed it when typing asterisks.

The days of the polycarbonate disc are numbered. Grab 'em while you can and back up what you want to keep to other media.

[jayne lee wilson]

Has to be Ironwood here, so free, supple and expansive with rich, deep sonorities, truly sui generis, but it will shock me if it even makes the shortlist...(if sliding and gliding makes you dizzy keep away....)
Ironwood's polar opposite, Gaia Scienza, also go to the necessary extremes - now that really should be in any top 5.

Wonderful work, often in my head. But a favourite?
Best of the rest could be a long list, including Hollywood Quartet/Victor Aller at one end, perhaps Leipziger/Staier at the other.....

Sound balance/blend on strings/piano can make or break a recording....so the Erard and Streicher with the instruments d'époque have a natural advantage...

It would be fascinating to hear an orchestration e.g. the one by Robin Holloway (2014), but I don't think there's a recording...

[MickyD]

I've had a listen to both of the HIP recordings you mention, Jayne. I have to say that I much prefer the sound of the piano in the Ironwood recording...the Gaia Scienza use an earlier Erard which to my ear sounds a bit too brittle for Brahms. I think I will be getting the Ironwood.

[verismissimo]

My first - some 50 years ago - was Richter with the Borodins (on a fierce Melodiya LP), which I adored. Since then it seems I've only had the beloved Lindsays with Peter Frankl on a cassette (that I no longer have a means of playing).

So … time for something new!

[Pulcinella]

Is it my imagination, or is the proportion of 'download onlys' in your admirable lists steadily increasing? I have the Werner Haas/BPO Octet members as a Philips Duo, and also, on a BBC MM recording, Ralph Kirshbaum and others. recorded in Palo Alto.

In addition to that Music@Menlo BBC MM CD there is another (not that common for BBC MM to repeat works): a 2015 Cadogan Hall Prom performance by Christian Ihle Hadland and the Signum Quartet (Vol 24, No 11).
They are the only versions I have.
Neither of them mentions the make of piano in the liner notes.

[BBMmk2]

I’m sure I have this work.

[cloughie]

It would be interesting to know what the balance is of those on the forum whose preferences are for cd over download and streaming.

[Pulcinella]

It would be interesting to know what the balance is of those on the forum whose preferences are for cd over download and streaming.

Probably best on a new thread rather than here? I wonder how representative we'd be of the current buying public (if there is such an animal).

In my own case, my CD shelves are now declared full!
I'm not (yet?) into downloads but have been fairly busy streaming some new releases or recommendations from others: the Deezer search facility is pretty useless, though, as there is no consistency, which is a real hindrance.

[Serial_Apologist]

I really have to listen to this programme, not being acquainted with the work in question.

As loyal Schoenbergian, I have noticed the strong Brahmsian references that frequently crop up in his music, even in the serial phase - viz the Piano Concerto, but especially the Piano Pieces Op 33a and b - and of course in Schmidt and Reger... especially pertinently Reger, his being arguably the defining link back to Brahms for Arnold and Anton. But, notwithstanding the useful pointers suggested by ferneyhoughgeliebte, I have not really succeeded in finding the, or any keywork: if the write-up in correct, this could be the one.

[jayne lee wilson]

It would be interesting to know what the balance is of those on the forum whose preferences are for cd over download and streaming.

Absolutely..... long story short chez moi, once streaming was available at CD/hires quality my downloading quickly fell away. I do still buy some CD/SACDs, if I really love it. Often 2ndhand.
But for financial reasons I'm sticking to streaming just now (or trying to... everyone here knows what I mean...). Qobuz/Audirvana is great value. Hard to live without really. My personal radio station, music player, new release alert, all-in-one....

(The Ironwood/Gaia Scienza aforementioned were off of CD, but they are available on QobuzSP).