Our Summer BAL 36: Beethoven quartets op 18

[verismissimo]

I've come back to these wonderful quartets quite recently. I've had the Amadeus and the Lindsays for several decades and recently acquired quite cheaply the Bartoks and the Quartetto Italiano. Both are a total delight. Would find it hard to choose between them.

What's your chosen set (or individual performances)?

[Bryn]

Using period instruments and playing techniques I find it difficult to choose between the Smithson Quartet and Quatuor Mosaïques. Each group has its moments, but all in all I find the Smithsons the more convincing. On modern beefed up instruments I have a soft spot for the Brodskys, but that is mainly for their commissioning of new works to accompany Op. 18 on the discs. There is also something to be said for the Endellions. Not only are their Op. 18 the apogee of their complete survey, they also include both versions of Op. 18 No. 1. However, it's the Talich Quartet I return to most often, though it was the Quartetto Italiano who were my first love in these works.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

However, it's the Talich Quartet I return to most often

The Veghs are pretty damn good, too - sounds a bit "boxy".

[kea]

How's the Turner Quartet (PI)? I've been really curious about them, recently got their Razumovsky #3 and Harp but haven't had a chance to spin yet.

Agreed with the Endellions as well as the Petersen Quartet's recordings (usually pairing an Op. 18 quartet with a late one) and the Hagen Quartet's recent disc with 3 and 5 along with Op. 135

[aeolium]

I confess I only have one complete set of these quartets, that by the Quartetto Italiano which I have admired for a long time. The quartets come up on radio and in concert quite often (there always seems to be at least one complete cycle under way at any time) and it is good to hear new interpretations that way. Of the ensembles currently playing, I have enjoyed performances by the Belceas, the Artemis and the Henschels (the latter in op 18 no 6, my favourite of the set).

[LeMartinPecheur]

I confess I only have one complete set of these quartets, that by the Quartetto Italiano which I have admired for a long time. The quartets come up on radio and in concert quite often (there always seems to be at least one complete cycle under way at any time) and it is good to hear new interpretations that way. Of the ensembles currently playing, I have enjoyed performances by the Belceas, the Artemis and the Henschels (the latter in op 18 no 6, my favourite of the set).

I've never had access to live cycles, so my 'train spotter's log' of live performances stems mainly from local chamber music society and festival programming.

FWIW after 40+ yrs there are still 3 Op18s that I've still to hear live, no's 2, 3 and 5. (They're now the only LvB quartets I've missed out on, having just added Op127 courtesy of this yr's Dante Festival). Yet I've heard multiple performances of the others (18/1 = 4, 18/4 = 2, 18/6 = 7). Does this match others' experiences?

Are these generally reckoned the best three of the six? Presumably No. 4 gets picked because LvB in C minor is always(?) A Good Thing, 6 has that weird finale, and 1 is I suppose the one that LvB himself picked to stake a big claim at the head of the set to be the Next Great Quartet Composer after Haydn and Mozart, and it does strike me as a really impressive calling card.

So, any big claims from members for my missing three?

[aeolium]

So, any big claims from members for my missing three?

I love the A major quartet op 18 no 5 - one can see Beethoven's admiration for the Mozart quartet in the same key (K464) and the structure of LvB's quartet AFAIR closely follows that of the Mozart.

Strangely, in view of your comments, I think I have heard op 18 no 3 - in concert and on the radio - almost more frequently than any other of the set, at least in recent years, though I agree that op 18 no 6 also crops up quite often.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Drifting back towards the precise topic, the LMP library isn't as full of Op 18s as of the rest of the cycle.

When I first discovered these works at uni c1972 I grabbed the standard HMV LP bargain-box by the Hungarian 4tet, OK for learning but a bit flat and grey as I recall - ought to spin them again. Thus it stayed till quite recently when I picked up a charity-shop LP box of the Italians: bliss, I thought, until I listened to the pressings, very gritty for Philips. Have also managed to build up the Lindsays' c2000 set on 3 separate CDs including the string 5tet and the transcription of Op 14/1. So it's probably those I'd reach for. For some reason I've not got the Takacs's set, to go alongside their excellent mid- and late quartets

My odd recordings nearly match my thesis in #6: there's No 1 from the Busch 4tet, No 4 on a BBC MM from the Pavel Haas and no 6 from the Henschel (picked up at a live concert, more for their Op127). And then, just to spoil the pattern there's a No 2 from the Artemis, again BBC MM...

EDIT Forgot another charity-shop 'bargain' - the Smetanas on Supraphon LP. Disappointing - I don't seem to get much luck with s/h Op 18s...