Tippett, Michael Kemp (1905 - 98)

[ahinton]

Come on. You know perfectly well that the withdrawn B flat was unnumbered.

I do indeed!

[Richard Barrett]

The live Wigmore Hall set by the Heath Quartet is very fine indeed!

I have the recording by the Lindsays. As recommended by kea, I've started with no.4. I'm not sure I could imagine it played much better than this, it comes over as a highly sonorous and timbrally varied piece and I like the minimal use of vibrato.

[Bryn]

I have the recording by the Lindsays. As recommended by kea, I've started with no.4. I'm not sure I could imagine it played much better than this, it comes over as a highly sonorous and timbrally varied piece and I like the minimal use of vibrato.

Never mind the intonation, feel the width, eh?

[rauschwerk]

Never mind the intonation, feel the width, eh?

I don't understand the received opinion in some quarters that Peter Cropper played out of tune. Sure, he had his off days in concert - I was present at a few - but no Lindsays recording has ever bothered me in that way.

[Richard Barrett]

I don't understand the received opinion in some quarters that Peter Cropper played out of tune.

I wasn't aware of this received opinion. Listening to the 3rd and 4th quartets today I noticed one or two very minor intonation "issues" in some of the more difficult moments, but nothing that reduced my appreciation of the performances.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I wasn't aware of this received opinion. Listening to the 3rd and 4th quartets today I noticed one or two very minor intonation "issues" in some of the more difficult moments, but nothing that reduced my appreciation of the performances.

I think it was certainly a well-circulated opinion back in the day. Perhaps he was more erratic in live performances, where studio recordings will usually trigger a retake. I heard the Lindsays live a few times and sadly the most 'memorable' was an all-LvB concert at the Anvil, Basingstoke, which was just dire. Flat, uninspired performances mainly; can't now recall if intonation was an issue for my fairly cloth-ears

To rephrase that, I'm usually tolerant of slightly innovative re-tunings

[kea]

I used to own a volume of their second (digital) Beethoven series—containing Op.132 and Op.104—where I greatly appreciated their interpretive direction but did find the playing ugly in terms of intonation—and had similar problems with a recording of the two Janáček quartets which I also no longer retain for that reason, and with their late Schubert, which I do retain anyway for its depth of feeling. Have never had any issues with their Tippett set though, or their Bartók.

[Pulcinella]

Here's a link to the Gramophone review of the ASV (re)issue of the full set of quartets played by the Lindsays:

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/tippett-string-quartets-0

Numbers 4 and 5 were of course written for them.

[Richard Barrett]

Here's a link to the Gramophone review of the ASV (re)issue of the full set of quartets played by the Lindsays:
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/...ing-quartets-0

My so far brief listening experience of the set agrees quite closely with the reviewer's opinion.

[ahinton]

My so far brief listening experience of the set agrees quite closely with the reviewer's opinion.

The late Michael Oliver was not known for getting things wrong...

[Richard Barrett]

Going offtopic a bit, what I'm wondering (as someone who's never knowingly listened to the Lindsays playing anything at all before now) is how they managed to gain such a strong reputation and make so many recordings, some of which (Beethoven!) won Gramophone Awards and the like, when there was, as LMP puts it, a "well-circulated opinion" that something as basic as their intonation was defective. Is this because there were other aspects of their interpretations that outweighed such problems? I've had a chance now to listen a couple of times to both the Heaths and the Lindsays playing Tippett no.4 and my impression is that the former are way behind in terms of ensemble (especially), of sonic, dynamic and dramatic variety, and the Heaths like many quartets sidestep issues of intonation by spreading their pitches out with vibrato. I'm also surprised that the Heaths' Tippett recording has received so many accolades when to me it's clear that the Lindsays inhabit these pieces (I'm talking about nos. 4 and 5, I haven't heard the others yet) so much more completely.

[Bryn]

It was PC to whom the questionable intonation was principally attributed.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The late Michael Oliver was not known for getting things wrong...

- he wrote the Gramophone review of the first recording of Ferneyhough's Sonatas for String Quartet (by the Berne S4tet on RCA), which showed astonishing insight and understanding of the work by any standards - and if, as I think was the case, his comments were made without access to the score of the work, it was a phenomenal achievement. A great writer on Music, able to communicate the most complex Musical features clearly to a general audience - his is a great loss.

[Pulcinella]

Going offtopic a bit, what I'm wondering (as someone who's never knowingly listened to the Lindsays playing anything at all before now) is how they managed to gain such a strong reputation and make so many recordings, some of which (Beethoven!) won Gramophone Awards and the like, when there was, as LMP puts it, a "well-circulated opinion" that something as basic as their intonation was defective. Is this because there were other aspects of their interpretations that outweighed such problems? I've had a chance now to listen a couple of times to both the Heaths and the Lindsays playing Tippett no.4 and my impression is that the former are way behind in terms of ensemble (especially), of sonic, dynamic and dramatic variety, and the Heaths like many quartets sidestep issues of intonation by spreading their pitches out with vibrato. I'm also surprised that the Heaths' Tippett recording has received so many accolades when to me it's clear that the Lindsays inhabit these pieces (I'm talking about nos. 4 and 5, I haven't heard the others yet) so much more completely.

Oh dear! I'm not sure if you're a good or a bad influence on me, Richard.
I'm going to have to listen to these again now, in both versions!

[Richard Barrett]

Oh dear! I'm not sure if you're a good or a bad influence on me, Richard.
I'm going to have to listen to these again now, in both versions!

It's only my not-very-informed opinion though!