BaL 29.09.12 Janacek's 2 string quartets

[Don Petter]

Tha Talich recording of both quartets, on Caliope, seems to be nla, but there is their Quartet Number 1 available on Alto:

http://www.mdt.co.uk/smetana-string-quartets-1-and-st-wenceslas-talich-quartet-alto.html

(Not sure if this is the same recording as the Caliope.)


Once you start, it's difficult to stop! MDT also currently lists pairs of the two quartets on CD by the Bennewitz, Melos, Dolezal and Vanbrugh String Quartets.

[verismissimo]

Lindsays seems to be available:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Janacek-String-Quartets-Lindsays/dp/B004754SZM/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1348257867&sr=1-1

[LeMartinPecheur]

I discovered these works via a Janacek Quartet LP I picked up in 1972 for 50p on Classics for Pleasure. I think it was so cheap because the licence agreement from Supraphon had expired. Smashing disc still.

Since then it's been supplemented on CD by the Gabrielis (not too sure why - don't rate it very much) and the Dantes. I've heard them do magificent live performances and had high hopes of the disc. The performances are great if you can penetrate the recording (Meridian). It seems to me to be oddly 'dark', bass-heavy, and it simply doesn't do justice to the quartet's usual bright, clear violins. Wish their usual label, Hyperion, had recorded them But others may hear it differently, and the performances are very well worth while. Does anyone else know this disc?

[gurnemanz]

Once you start, it's difficult to stop! MDT also currently lists pairs of the two quartets on CD by the Bennewitz, Melos, Dolezal and Vanbrugh String Quartets.

Melos are serious contenders, I'd have thought, and now on HM's bargain label.

http://www.mdt.co.uk/janacek-string-quartets-melos-quartet-harmonia-mundi.html

[aeolium]

I too am certainly looking forward to this BaL, but I'm slightly puzzled why the two quartets are being reviewed together. Don't they each merit separate consideration?

[gurnemanz]

We went to a very rewarding concert last year where Ensemble 360 played the Intimate Letters Quartet and Timothy West as Janacek read a selection of the letters.

http://wiltshiremusic.org.uk/whatsonbuy/intimate-letters-ensemble-360-4-dec-2011

[Roehre]

....but I'm slightly puzzled why the two quartets are being reviewed together. Don't they each merit separate consideration?

I should think so. Puzzling decision it is IMO.

[amateur51]

... and welcome back, ammy: hope the holiday was utterly enjoyable!

Triffically so thanks, ferney

[Bryn]

Do any, besides the Quatuor Diotima, use the new Barenreiter urtext score, or include a reconstruction of the version of number 2 with a viola d'amore part?

Been listening to the two versions of the second quartet as recorded by Quatuor Diotima today. They really are each quite different to the 'standard' version. There's an amusing slip in the English version of the programme notes for the disc. At one point the viola d'amore is referred to as a "viola da gamba". Big mistake, what? I am looking forward to hearing what is made of these recordings next week.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

At one point the viola d'amore is referred to as a "viola da gamba". Big mistake, what?

Obviously a "leg person"!

[Bryn]

Another fine recording currently missing from the catalogue is that from the Belcea Quartet. Must dig mine out again:

[makropulos]

Do any, besides the Quatuor Diotima, use the new Barenreiter urtext score, or include a reconstruction of the version of number 2 with a viola d'amore part?

Supraphon's "Janacek Unknown IV" includes a version with viola d'amore too, played by members of the Kubin Quartet and John Anthony Calabrese.

To be honest, I don't think it works except as a nicely symbolic idea that clearly appealed to Janacek. But he didn't think it worked either - having heard it played to him in private once he decided to stick with a conventional quartet formation, with fabulous results.

[gurnemanz]

... Many thanks for this.

I don't know whether the Gabrieli qtt is still available - their 1977 recording of both quartets was included in the decca 5 CD box of Janáček chamber music & orchestral works.

I have that excellent box containing the Gabrielis' version which seems to be still available.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Decca/4755232

[Bryn]

There is also a recording by the Brodsky Quartet which seems to be available, and to have received at least one enthusiastic review.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/jan%C3%A1cek-string-quartets-no-1-2-poh%C3%A1dka-violin-sonata-mw0001561221

It is claimed to be available (in stock) direct from amazon.co.uk for £7.37 including p&p.

[Thropplenoggin]

There is also a recording by the Brodsky Quartet which seems to be available, and to have received at least one enthusiastic review.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/jan%C3%A1cek-string-quartets-no-1-2-poh%C3%A1dka-violin-sonata-mw0001561221

It is claimed to be available (in stock) direct from amazon.co.uk for £7.37 including p&p.

From the Allmusic review:

"...the second called "Intimate Letters" after the supremely sensual missives the composer wrote a young married mother with whom he was smitten, are truly, deeply, profoundly sensual works, and the Brodsky tears into the music like sailors on shore leave."

Nice simile.