Bal 7.05.22 - Beethoven String Quartet no. 1 in F (Op 18 no 1)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30 am
Building a Library
Laura Tunbridge recommends her favourite recording of Beethoven's String Quartet in F, Op 18 No 1.
In Vienna at the end of the 18th century, Beethoven was in his late 20s, the supreme keyboard composer-improviser of his day. With dogged determination and a degree of circumspection he began picking off various genres over which the shadows of the late Mozart and the very much alive Haydn loomed large. With piano sonatas, piano trios and string trios under his belt, it took two laborious years to complete the Op 18 set of six string quartets. The first of the set was intended to make a big impression. Its imposing scale and wide expressive range are typical of the young Beethoven, including a restless dynamic energy and a tragic slow movement inspired, he said, by the tomb scene of Romeo and Juliet.

Available versions:-

Alban Berg Quartet
Alexander String Quartet *s
Amadeus Quartet
Amernet String Quartet
Arianna String Quartet
Artemis Quartet
Auryn Quartet
Auryn Quartet (DVD)
Bartók Quartet *
Barylli Quartet
Beethoven String Quartet
Belcea Quartet
Belcea Quartet (DVD/Blu-ray)
Borciani Quartet *
Borodin Quartet
Brodsky Quartet
Budapest String Quartet
Busch Quartet
Chiaroscuro Quartet (SACD)
Colorado Quartet
Cuarteto Casals
Cypress String Quartet
Delian Quartett
Dover Quartet
Elias Quartet *s
Eliot Quartett
Emerson String Quartet
Endellion String Quartet *
Esmé Quartet
Eybler Quartet
Fine Arts Quartet
Gewandhaus Quartet
Gewandhaus Quartet
Goldner String Quartet *
Guarneri Quartet *
Hagen Quartett
Hungarian Quartet
Jerusalem Quartet
Juilliard String Quartet *
Juilliard String Quartet
Kodaly Quartet
Koeckert Quartet *
Kuss Quartet
Leipzig String Quartet
Lindsay String Quartet
Lindsay String Quartet
Maggini Quartet
Medici String Quartet
Melos Quartet *
Michelangelo String Quartet *
Miró Quartet
New Budapest Quartet *
Orford String Quartet
Pascal Quartet
Petersen Quartett *
Orford String Quartet
Prazák Quartet *
Pro Arte Quartet
Quartetto di Cremona (SACD)
Quartetto Italiano
Quatuor Alcan
Quatuor Ebène
Quatuor Ébène (DVD)
Quatuor Mosaïques *
Quatuor Sine Nomine
Quatuor Voce *
Sacconi Quartet
Smetana Quartet
Suske Quartett
Takács Quartet *
Talich Quartet *
Tokyo String Quartet
Vanbrugh Quartet *
Vegh Quartet *
Vermeer Quartet *
Vlach Quartet
Wihan Quartet
Wihan Quartet (DVD)

* = download only

[pastoralguy]

As always, thank you for the list.

[Serial_Apologist]

It's not as good as his last one!

[richardfinegold]

I was just listening to my Hungarian Qt (stereo) version last weekend (actually, the whole Op. 18 set). I have always enjoyed the Op. 18 set but have spent so much more time listening to the middle and late Quartets and was thinking last weekend that this Op. 18 is really marvelous and I need to get to know them better

[Darloboy]

This will be the first time that BaL has covered this quartet as an individual work. However, Richard Wigmore did a programme on all 6 Op. 18 quartets back in April 94. The Végh Quartet was first choice (as they were for pretty much all the Beethoven string quartets in those days). The Chiaroscuro Quartet must be strong contenders now.

[gurnemanz]

The Chiaroscuro Quartet must be strong contenders now.

Perhaps even more so now that their complete op 18 set is now available with the recent addition of 4-6: https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...-op-18-nos-4-6

[richardfinegold]

Perhaps even more so now that their complete op 18 set is now available with the recent addition of 4-6: https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...-op-18-nos-4-6

I love their Haydn Op. 20 recordings

[Goon525]

Though surprisingly Gramophone’s reviews of both Op 18 volumes, by different reviewers, have been lukewarm.

[Barbirollians]

Though surprisingly Gramophone’s reviews of both Op 18 volumes, by different reviewers, have been lukewarm.

I have a very high regard for the Mosaiques recording.

[CallMePaul]

I heard the Lindsays more than once in this work live at Manchester University when they were the Quartet in Residence, and their first recording remains the only one I have of the cycle. I will listen to this with interest but would have preferred the whole of op18 to have been considered. Is anyone going to buy a recording of just one of this set?

[richardfinegold]

I heard the Lindsays more than once in this work live at Manchester University when they were the Quartet in Residence, and their first recording remains the only one I have of the cycle. I will listen to this with interest but would have preferred the whole of op18 to have been considered. Is anyone going to buy a recording of just one of this set?

Well, with downloading, this is an easy proposition...

[Opinionated Knowall]

I was just listening to my Hungarian Qt (stereo) version last weekend (actually, the whole Op. 18 set). I have always enjoyed the Op. 18 set but have spent so much more time listening to the middle and late Quartets and was thinking last weekend that this Op. 18 is really marvelous and I need to get to know them better

Is that stereo set by the Hungarians available? The 1953 mono set is available in various incarnations, but I have fond memories of the stereo set on LP, and would love to get them on CD!

[Retune]

Is that stereo set by the Hungarians available? The 1953 mono set is available in various incarnations, but I have fond memories of the stereo set on LP, and would love to get them on CD!

This discography links to French EMI releases of the complete quartets and the 50 CD Beethoven Collector's Edition (probably deleted but easy to find):

https://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/10/a-survey-of-beethoven-string-quartet.html

There is also an English language release of the 50 CD set that seems to go for more money secondhand, though with minimal documentation it's probably not worth paying extra for.

[richardfinegold]

This discography links to French EMI releases of the complete quartets and the 50 CD Beethoven Collector's Edition (probably deleted but easy to find):

https://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/10/a-survey-of-beethoven-string-quartet.html

There is also an English language release of the 50 CD set that seems to go for more money secondhand, though with minimal documentation it's probably not worth paying extra for.

I was lucky enough that someone pointed me to a French site to order the stereo set, many years ago. It came with zero documentation . At the time my lending library still had the lps issued here on EMI budget label, with the extensive notes by Neville Cardus. I borrowed the lps and copied the notes but did not save them digitally and now lost. At any rate it’s easy to find plenty to read about Beethoven SQs, but it is very difficult to find the Hungarian Quartet stereo traversal

[pastoralguy]

Bump