Talking about string quartets

[ahinton]

On the subject of string quartets with voice, I wonder how many here are familiar with Othmar Schoeck's rather beautiful Notturno op.47 for baritone and string quartet, composed in 1933.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeV3uxsa23A

Well, I certainly have been for years although it's a long time since I last listened to it; many thanks for posting the link to this performance of it.

[Nick Armstrong]

that old chestnut

Is that any way to refer to Evelyn Lear?!

(She speaks very affectionately of you - you old prune!)

"winkeyes" all round....

You've all sent me back to the Wigmore season programme, haven't had my quartet fix for a while. Need to remedy that!

[Beef Oven!]

Edmund Rubbra described the string quartet as 'the purest and most lucid texture available to a composer'.

There are so many composers who seem to me to have more to say in their quartets than in,for example,their symphonies.
Others may disagree but to my ears the quartets of Beethoven,Shostakovich,Weinberg,Vagn Holmboe and so many others seem to be the heart and soul of their output.

I listen to a lot of string quartets and I think it's just the most perfect musical combination.

Any thoughts? or am I talking nonsense (again!).

Excellent thread ER

May I plug Krzysztof Meyer?

I have really enjoyed his S4ts 5, 6 & 8 over the last couple of years. He seems to have written at least 13, but I only have this CD.

Does anyone have a view on Meyer?

[EdgeleyRob]

Bang on! That, I think, provides the answer to the OP and effectively brings the thread to a close.

Maybe I am taking nonesense then.
I'm never comfortable getting into these discussions with the heavyweights (musical that is) of this forum,so serves me right.
The sound of a string quartet,playing these LvB,DSCH or Weinberg works is,to me at any rate,perfection.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Hmmm... for me Gran Torso finds Lachenmann at his most sternly didactic.

Tempting as it is to reply with a comment about there being nothing wrong with a bit of stern didacticism in the privacy of one's own home at the weekend, I'll content myself instead with the comment that I don't hear this - I just hear the delight that the composer communicates (to me) from the discovery and presentation of these wonderful sounds.

Having said that, this afternoon I played through the Ardittis recording of the three Lachenmann quartets in chronological order (ie, the reverse of how they appear on the CD) and GRIDO seemed the best performance (and work) heard this way round.

[Richard Barrett]

Maybe I am taking nonesense then.

Not in the least! I think it's a really interesting discussion and it certainly wasn't my intention to bring it to a close.

Does anyone have a view on Meyer?

He seems to make extremely large CDs.

All I know about him is he wrote a quite good biography of Shostakovich, with whom he was personally acquainted I think.

[David-G]

Anyway there was another thing I thought might be worth discussing in EdgeleyRob's original post: the bit about the string quartet being the "perfect musical combination". Is there such a thing? The fact that many of my favourite pieces are string quartets doesn't necessarily mean that this combination of instruments is in and of itself preferable to others, does it? Of course the existence of the whole tradition we've been talking about means that the members of string quartets regularly and frequently play serious and often structurally/expressively complex music together, which encourages the development of skills that aren't likely to be specifically required of, say, a saxophone quartet. And this is clearly an important factor for both composers and listeners. But IMO there isn't an instrumental combination as such which could be described as more or less perfect than any other, surely. (It's kind of an article of faith for me that there is something interesting to be done with any conceivable combination of instruments, which would then hopefully be "perfect" for that particular work.)

And to illustrate the point, the 12 winds and bass in Mozart's Serenade K361 might be regarded as a "perfect musical combination".

[teamsaint]

[QUOTE=Beef Oven!;435579]Excellent thread ER

May I plug Krzysztof Meyer?

I have really enjoyed his S4ts 5, 6 & 8 over the last couple of years. He seems to have written at least 13, but I only have this CD.

Does anyone have a view on Meyer?



My view on him is that this is a very interesting recommendation !!
Have been listening to No 5 , (available on youtube) and intend to hear some more.

Well worth investigating .

Cheers Beefy .

[Barbirollians]

Talking about string quartets I see that Presto have a big discount on Supraphon items at the moment including much of the Pavel Haas Quartet's back catalogue . The Haas/Janacek couplings and the Dvorak I can strongly recommend.

[ahinton]

Not in the least! I think it's a really interesting discussion and it certainly wasn't my intention to bring it to a close.

NOr mine, if truth were told; I mention that only because the post to which it was a response seemed to sum up so much of what there was to say about the subject. Of course I welcome further discussion of it!

[Black Swan]

Talking about string quartets I see that Presto have a big discount on Supraphon items at the moment including much of the Pavel Haas Quartet's back catalogue . The Haas/Janacek couplings and the Dvorak I can strongly recommend.

Barbirollians,

Thanks for the heads up. I have the Dvorak and am teetering on the Haas/Janacek. I really don't know Haas work but am tempted just for the Janacek.

[Black Swan]

I think my question has been discussed on the forum previously but I have the Emerson 1988 recordings of the Bartok Quartets. I believe although at the time they were reviewed well that now they are slightly out of favour. So recommendations? Also, any comments on Jonathan Harvey's quartets would be appreciated. I do not know his chamber works.

[Barbirollians]

Splutter - Mozart's string quartets are wonderful .

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Splutter - Mozart's string quartets are wonderful .

They are, indeed (I'm particularly fond of the Hoffmeister) - but the Quintets and the Trio Divertimento are wonderfuller.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think my question has been discussed on the forum previously but I have the Emerson 1988 recordings of the Bartok Quartets. I believe although at the time they were reviewed well that now they are slightly out of favour. So recommendations? Also, any comments on Jonathan Harvey's quartets would be appreciated. I do not know his chamber works.

The Harvey recommendation is easily dealt with; there is one superb recording of all four coupled with his String Trio on AEON:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harvey-String-Quartets-Arditti-Quartet/dp/B001RIGD8W/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1413104806&sr=1-1&keywords=jonathan+harvey+string+quartets

I bought the Emersons on the strength of the plaudits it received when it was first issued. I disliked it, finding the performances and recording glaring and lacking in nuance; unremitting shouting at me (even in the quieter passages, I felt they were just getting wind for another rant). I sold the set on and bought the Tokyo Quartet's recordings, which are still my favourite recordings of these astonishing works, but I wouldn't be without the Lindsays or Juilliards either. I don't know any more recent recordings