BaL 12.03.22 - Schubert: String Quintet in C major (D. 956)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30 am
Building a Library
Natasha Loges picks a favourite recording of Schubert’s String Quintet in C.

Franz Schubert’s last chamber piece, the String Quintet in C major (D. 956), is one of the most sublime pieces in the repertoire. It is scored for a standard string quartet plus an extra cello. The work remained unpublished at the time of Schubert’s death in November 1828 and after it was belatedly premiered and published in the 1850s, it gradually gained recognition as a masterpiece. Knowing that Schubert died so soon after composing the work, makes many people hear a valedictory quality in the music.

Available Versions:-

Acies Quartet, David Geringas
Alban Berg Quartett, Heinrich Schiff
Alberni Quartet, Thomas Igloi
Amadeus Quartet, Robert Cohen
Amadeus Quartet, William Pleeth
Amsterdam Sinfonietta soloists: Candida Thompson, Jacobien Rozemond, Daniel Bard, Kaori Yamagami, Rick Stotijn (SACD)
Aeolian Quartet, Bruno Schrecker
Arcanto Quartet, Olivier Marron *
L'Archibudelli
Artemis Quartet, Truls Mørk
Auryn Quartet, Christian Poltéra (Blu-ray audio)
Aviv Quartet, Amit Peled
Bartok Quartet, Miklós Perényi *
Belcea Quartet
Vera Beths, Lisa Rautenberg, Steven Dann, Anner Bylsma, Kenneth Slowik
Brandis Quartett, Wen-Sinn Yang
Brentano String Quartet, Michael Kannen
Budapest Academy Quartet, Martin Rummel
Budapest Quartet, Pablo Casals *
Budapest Quartet, Benar Heifetz
Camerata Quartet, Marta Kordykiewicz *
Chilingirian Quartet, Jennifer Ward
Cleveland Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma *
Cypress String Quartet, Gary Hoffman
Emerson String Quartet, Mstislav Rostropovich
Festetics Quartet, Wieland Kuijken *
Fitzwilliam String Quartet, Christopher van Kampen
Pamela Frank, Felix Galimir, Steven Tenenbom, Peter Wiley, Julia Lichten *
Arthur Grumiaux, Arpad Gérecz, Max Lesueur, Philippe Mermoud, Paul Szabo *
Guarneri Quartet, Bernard Greenhouse
Guarneri Quartet, Leonard Rose *
Hagen Quartett, Heinrich Schiff
Jascha Heifetz , Israel Baker, William Primrose, Gregor Piatigorsky, Gabor Rejto *
Hollywood String Quartet, Kurt Rener
Hungarian Quartet, László Varga *
Janine Jansen, Boris Brovtsyn, Maxim Rysanov, Amihai Grosz, Torleif Thedéen, Jens Peter Maintz *
Soovin Kim, Kurt Nikkanen, Kirsten Johnson, Zuill Bailey, Janos Starker
Jacob Krachmalnick, Aurea Pernel, Karen Tuttle, Madeline Foley, Pablo Casals *
Kuijken Quartet, Michel Boulanger *
Kuss Quartet, Miklos Perényi
LaSalle Quartet, Lynn Harrell (SACD)
Leipziger Streichquartett, Michael Sanderling
Walter Henry Meyer, Peter Kamnitzer, Lee Fiser, Lynn Harrell
Lindsay String Quartet, Douglas Cummings
Melos Quartet, Mstislav Rostropovich
Yehudi Menuhin, Robert Masters, Walter Gerhardt, Derek Simpson, Maurice Gendron
Miró Quartet, Matt Haimovitz (SACD)
Orpheus Quartet, Pieter Wispelwey *
Panocha Quartet, Mirel Iancovici *
Pavel Haas Quartet, Danjulo Ishizaka
Petersen Quartett, Michael Sanderling *
Quartetto di Cremona, Eckart Runge
Quartetto della Scala, Silvia Chiesa *
Quatuor Athéna, Guy Fallot *
Quatuor Diotima, Anne Gsstinel *
Quatuor Ebène, Gautier Capuçon
Quatuor Sine Nomine, François Guye
Raphael Ensemble *
Rosamonde Quartet, Nicolas Deletaille
Sándor Végh Quartet *
Schubert Quintett
Skálholt String Quartet, Bruno Cocset *
Smetana Quartet
Isaac Stern, Cho-Liang Lin, Jaime Laredo, Yo-Yo Ma, Sharon Robinson
Isaac Stern, Alexander Schneider, Milton Katims, Paul Tortelier, Pablo Casals *
Takács Quartet, Ralph Kirshbaum
Tatrai Quartet, Laszlo Szilvasy *
Tokyo String Quartet, David Watkin *
Christian Tetzlaff, Florian Donderer, Rachel Roberts, Tanja Tetzlaff, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker
Verdi Quartet
Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet
Villa Musica Ensemble
Vogler Quartet, Daniel Muller-Schott *
Weller Quartet, Dietfried Gurtler
3Gdreigenerationenquartett

* = download only

[Darloboy]

Previous BaLs:

John Warrack April 78: Melos Qt/Rostropovich

William Mann Jun 84: Allegri Qt/Moray Welsh + Melos Qt/Rostropovich (cassette choice) + Collegium Aureum (period instrument choice)

Richard Osborne June 93: Alban Berg Qt/Heinrich Schiff + Emerson Qt/Rostropovich (cassette) + Stern/Schneider/Katims/Casals/Tortelier (historic choice)

Anthony Burton Oct 07: Hagen Qt/Heinrich Schiff + Ensemble Villa Musica (budget price) + Smetana Qt/Sadlo (special mention) + Hollywood Qt/Reher (historic choice)

My choice this time would be the Haas Qt

[Petrushka]

I have the Alban Berg Quartet/Heinrich Schiff recording and the Vienna Philharmonic Quartet/Richard Harand. The latter is with Willi Boskovsky and other legendary players from the VPO and I have it in a box devoted to Boskovsky's Decca recordings. Both discs are fine but I have a preference for the VPO players in this repertoire.

Not looking for another.

[Barbirollians]

I have a soft spot for the Chilingirian and Jennifer Ward Clarke .

[richardfinegold]

Slava and the Melos Quartet for me

[RichardB]

No recording of this work that I know gets to the heart of it in the way the Festetics Quartet and Wieland Kuijken do.

[kea]

Arcanto Quartet, Olivier Marron *
Artemis Quartet, Truls Mørk
Auryn Quartet, Christian Poltéra (Blu-ray audio)
Belcea Quartet, Valentin Erben
Vera Beths, Lisa Rautenberg, Steven Dann, Anner Bylsma, Kenneth Slowik
Emerson String Quartet, Mstislav Rostropovich
Festetics Quartet, Wieland Kuijken *
Fitzwilliam String Quartet, Christopher van Kampen
Pamela Frank, Felix Galimir, Steven Tenenbom, Peter Wiley, Julia Lichten *
Hagen Quartett, Heinrich Schiff
Janine Jansen, Boris Brovtsyn, Maxim Rysanov, Amihai Grosz, Torleif Thedéen, Jens Peter Maintz *
Lindsay String Quartet, Douglas Cummings
Orpheus Quartet, Pieter Wispelwey *
Pavel Haas Quartet, Danjulo Ishizaka
Petersen Quartett, Michael Sanderling *
Quatuor Diotima, Anne Gastinel *
Quatuor Ebène, Gautier Capuçon
Quatuor Sine Nomine, François Guye
Raphael Ensemble *
Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet, Gunther Weiss

Highlighted the most serious contenders, in my view.

Missing, possibly unavailable, although owned by me:
Taneyev Quartet/Mstislav Rostropovich (Westminster, DG) (my personal favourite, and by some distance; mono)
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (Vanguard Classics)
Takács Quartet/Miklos Perényi (Decca)
Melos Quartet/Walter Boettcher (Harmonia Mundi) (superior to their Rostropovich version)
Pražák Quartet/Marc Coppey (Praga)

I generally hate slow Schubert, but practically everyone does it anyway, so it's unavoidable in this case. The Beths et al. recording is probably closest to the ideal tempi (I've also heard live recordings by the Artemis and Petersen Quartets that are significantly faster & therefore better than their studio attempts, both from 20+ years ago, unreleased in any format). The Taneyev Quartet recording would be even more ideal, but the slow movement is very slow. That said on an interpretive level the performance is better than the alternatives. For the more traditional slow Schubert that the vast majority of people prefer, as much as people historically praise the Melos/Rostropovich recording, the Vienna Konzerthaus and Frank et al. recordings are significantly more appealing.

I'm not sure what recording I would choose in a Building a Library context though.

[BBMmk2]

Now, I don’t think I have this? I’m sure I have…..

[Opinionated Knowall]

Anybody else remember the Lansdowne Quartet with Amaryllis Fleming? (Jack Rothstein and Anthony Gilbert, violins; Kenneth Essex, viola; Charles Tunnell, cello) Did that ever make it to CD?

[Keraulophone]

Student purchase: the Aeolian Quartet with Bruno Schrecker (from the Allegri Qt) from 1966 on a Saga LP for 89p.

Still hits the spot, especially in the adagio.

[mikealdren]

Student purchase: the Aeolian Quartet with Bruno Schrecker (from the Allegri Qt) from 1966 on a Saga LP for 89p.

Still hits the spot, especially in the adagio.

And with me too but it really depends on whether you can accept the slow tempo or whether, like the last BaL, you automatically reject it for that alone. Modern HIPP performances end towards faster performances in slow movements and I do suspect that there are technical reasons (such as lack of vibrato and 'softer' and shorter bows) that encourage this.

[gurnemanz]

And with me too but it really depends on whether you can accept the slow tempo or whether, like the last BaL, you automatically reject it for that alone. Modern HIPP performances end towards faster performances in slow movements and I do suspect that there are technical reasons (such as lack of vibrato and 'softer' and shorter bows) that encourage this.

Like many I had that Saga/Aeolian LP, my only recording for ages. Re slow movement, I remember hearing somewhere an analogy with a slow bicycle race. How slow can you go without falling off?

[RichardB]

Modern HIPP performances end towards faster performances in slow movements and I do suspect that there are technical reasons (such as lack of vibrato and 'softer' and shorter bows) that encourage this.

There seems to be a growing number of comments on the forum that HIPP performances are excessively fast, but little discussion as to why this might be. The technical reasons you mention would certainly be important in 18th century music and earlier. I'm not an expert in what kind of bows were in use in Vienna in the early 19th century, but the "modern" Tourte bow already existed by 1790 or so. My feeling is that tempi became slower during the late 19th and early 20th century, and the faster tempi associated with HIPP are connected with getting past the influence of later music on the performance of Schubert etc., so that it isn't so much a matter of HIPP performances being "too fast" as of HUPP performances being "too slow". (Sometimes it works, as in Celibidache's Bruckner.) To me, when the slow movement of D956 is taken too slowly, the pizzicato material in the first violin sounds too dry and unable to contribute meaningfully to the music's harmonic texture, especially when gut strings are used. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, Schubert doesn't indicate a change of tempo in the middle section, so a tempo should be chosen that suits both this and the outer sections, rather than having two changes of gear.

[gurnemanz]

PS Other favourites more recently acquired:

Leipziger Streichquartett with Michael Sanderling on complete box from MDG. Great sound with first movement repeat taking timing to 20.06. I bought it in Leipzig and have kept the pre-Euro price sticker 79DM - about £20 - a very goood deal.

Hollywood Quartet, coupled with Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht.

Footnote:
The Leipziger include Michael Sanderling, the son of a famous conductor. The Hollywood include, Felix Slatkin, the father of another famous conductor. Both of them active as both conductors and instrumentalists.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Anybody else remember the Lansdowne Quartet with Amaryllis Fleming? (Jack Rothstein and Anthony Gilbert, violins; Kenneth Essex, viola; Charles Tunnell, cello) Did that ever make it to CD?

This was my first purchase as a student back in the early 70s. On the basis of reviews I might have gone for the above-mentioned Aeolians on Saga but was put off by considerable experience of Saga's poor pressing quality

The Lansdownes proved a very good introduction to the work but I've neglected them since acquiring the likes of Stern/ Casals, Fitzwilliams, Lindsays, Belceas etc. They surely merit a grateful sentimental re-spin at least!