RFI: Beethoven String Quartets

the only set i've ever owned is a 10 album vinyl box by the Amadeus Quartet on Deutsche Grammophon from 1962. maybe it's time for an upgrade! always sounded great to me though. but what would i know, i have nothing to compare it with.

i love my vinyl box of Schubert's string quartets on DGG. That one is from 1975. The Melos Quartet. again, i have nothing to compare it with. but i think it's lovely.

Scott, that Amadeus 4tet cycle sounds better on vinyl than on CD, I'll bet. One reason I didn't keep the CD box was because of a certain harshness to the sound that made their playing sound clunkier than it probably was. Anyway, if you were to grab up the next decent-looking cheapish vinyl box set you see of LvB quartets, I'll bet you'd have a blast comparing interpretations, especially if you're super-accustomed to the Amadeus versions.

I never ever get tired of A/B'ing different performances of the same pieces... it's not always a "this rendition's better than this one" kind of thing-- it's just so fascinating to hear what two pianists or quartets or conductor/orchestras do with something that on paper is virtually identical.

xpost to poortheater-- I have to think a little bit about your question about excellent, don't-even-hesitate box sets that are out there.

"it's just so fascinating to hear what two pianists or quartets or conductor/orchestras do with something that on paper is virtually identical."

i notice the speed/tempo first. i guess that's natural. i get used to one recording, or have a favorite, and then i listen to someone else, and i'm thinking: dude, your Brahms is too fast for me! and then i think, hmm, maybe the one i like is just extra-lugubrious.

poortheatre: Schubert complete songs, Hyperion. And i personally love the three Purcell sets on Hyperion, all by Robert King.

xpost to poortheater-- I have to think a little bit about your question about excellent, don't-even-hesitate box sets that are out there.

i'm really interested in this response.

OK, lemme do a couple of these at a time, otherwise I'll never get to it.

1. Sibelius: Orchestral Music- Paavo Berglund cond. Helsinki and Bournemouth (EMI 8CD Budget Box)
Sibelius is my favorite symphonic composer. He cut to the heart of the matter early on and did not miss his target for almost 30 years. His themes may sound like other composers' at times, but how he develops his themes, or rather how he LETS HIS THEMES DEVELOP, is like no one else ever. There's a germane quote from him that he wanted "to find the pedal notes of Nature". He did. Berglund has no dud performances in this large survey of JS's symphonies, tone poems and incidental music. Only some of the performances vie with the very best, but the no-dud factory makes at a total RFI. I love the way the slightly piercing Helsinki woodwinds stand forth without getting drowned in the strings. The only really crucial works you would be missing are the Four Lemminkainen Legends and the incidental music for The Tempest-- as luck would have it the cheap Naxos recording of the Legends with the Iceland Symphony is world-class and fierce (but avoid the Naxos/Iceland symphony cycle, it's not so good). Alternately, if you want just the 7 symphonies the Decca/London 4CD box of Blomstedt with the San Francisco Symphony is an excellent choice. Start listening with the 4th or 5th and work your way both backward and forward from there.

2. Staying with Blomstedt for a minute, when he was young he did a Beethoven symphony cycle with the Staatskappelle Dresden that's now available dirt cheap in a Brilliant Classics box. Late 70's analog recordings. The Dresden is a very old, unique-sounding orchestra and one that has a sizeable, deserved cult among classical geeks (one easy-to-hear trait is that their timpanists use hard sticks without padded tips). The Blomstedt/Dresden LvB cycle is not eccentric in any way. They simply play the shit out of the music with all due feeling and gusto. This would be a great counterpart for the Klemperer box you already have (Klemperer very much the eccentric with his slow tempos and granite-jawed stubbornness).

3. Messiaen: Complete Piano Music- Peter Hill (Regis label, super budget)
Messiaen is a fascinatingly rich and imperfect 20th c. figure. You've got the devout Catholicism alongside the jazzy sex alongside the meticulously transcribed birdsongs all held together by a serious case of synaesthesia. His use of the orchestra is amazing, but for me the solo piano stuff is the most satisfying. There are two massive anthology works, Vingt Regards Sur L'Enfant Jesus and the Catalogue D'Oiseaux. The former is an overwhelming virtuoso study in rhythm and ecstasy, the latter a set of Audobon prints in sound with dizzyingly literal "depictions" not just of dozens of different bird species but the landscapes around them (still, craggy granite walls; movements of pond water, etc.) Main influences are the solo piano music of Debussy and Bartok, pre-Baroque sacred music, birdsong (natch)and early jazz (though he professed to dislike it).

I'll try'n post another few tomorrow. BTW the Complete Schubert Songs box on Hyperion is surely amazing-- I wish I owned it. It's pricey. Maybe there are deals to be found on it since it's been out a couple of years now. I assume the box has all the original liner notes-- if no, that's a deal breaker. I have 3 or 4 discs from the original series, and the liner notes (written by the pianist and driving force of the whole series) are incredible, each one far more than you can read in a single sitting. If Hyperion ever issued the complete notes as a seperate book I'd buy it for sure.

I assume the box has all the original liner notes

actually, i think one of the gripes about the schubert box is that the liner notes for individual releases were NOT included in the box.. keep 'em coming!

just got the Takacs Late Quartets today, holy whoa this is the one.

yessssssssssss

huh, i meant to listen to these today. they're lying on my desk still. quartetto italiano, although i had to check that before i could say

i spent weeks listening to the late quartets a couple years ago but my understanding of chamber music kind of stalled there

so here is a beethoven string quartets RFI: where next?

At this point, I keep on my mp3 player my top three versions of each of the 32 sonatas (no complete cycles). If anyone gives a shit I'd post them, but I'd definitely better shut up for now.

― Jon Lewis, Monday, May 21, 2007 6:09 PM (5 years ago)

Would love to see this!

Oh man. You might regret that request. Do we have a thread for lvb piano sonatas ? I'm on zing touch right now...

Not sure - this seemed a great thread ripe for bumping, thoigh.

Actually I'd be interested (also?instead?) to know your favourite Brendels, as the only full cycle I've spent any time with is his first in the brilliant Brilliant Vox box.

i like the alban berg qt's set

Tomorrow or possibly tonight ill list my composite brendel cycle of the 32, taking from his 3 complete cycles plus the odds and ends releases.

Great, thanks!

never heard the razumovsky quartets for some reason, i didn't realize they were regarded as basically as next-level as the late ones are

the takacs middle quartets set p. much as great as the late but the shit RIPS

Saw the Danish String Quartet play 131 and 135 last saturday. 131 was absolutely breathtaking, seeing four human beings so in sync in communicating something so mysterious was awe-inspiring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUob2dcQTWA

that good shit

Sibelius is my favorite symphonic composer. He cut to the heart of the matter early on and did not miss his target for almost 30 years. His themes may sound like other composers' at times, but how he develops his themes, or rather how he LETS HIS THEMES DEVELOP, is like no one else ever.

from the great jon lewis post upthread, this sentence really tickled me

The first Beethoven quartet that clicked with me, and my favourite to this day (along with the Große Fuge).

If you're curious to compare performances, check out this classic live take by the Alban Berg Quartet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNjmOnh75_g

I miss poortheatre and call the cops
ILX has never been able to afford to lose classical peeps

I feel bad for posting so little about classical music lately but I'll try to make up for it very soon. I just need to finish catching up with recent releases.

I have steadily appreciated ILX writing on classical music, as I have finally found a way in, through reading here about Sibelius' 5th symphony. The third movement is so beautiful, like, I get queasy listening to it it's so beautiful, like it's the warmth of the universe, not cosmic but rather the unity within the cosmic, like you could walk into the river Styx to this, welcome home buddy, all of nature together

I know this isn't a Sibelius thread but I wanted to thank you all for walking into that river with me

The 5th truly is a thing of awe. Just to expand on your aquatic metaphors, have you heard The Oceanides, Euler?

no but I can look it up!

Apologies for further hijacking the Beethoven SQ thread, but I suggest the recording on this marvellous selection of Sibelius's tone poems – it really brings out the music's affinity for the natural world:

https://d27t0qkxhe4r68.cloudfront.net/t_300/7318590012253.jpg?1401982557

I saw the Minguet Quartet play op.131 last month, thrilling and beautiful performance. Recommend seeing them if you get the chance.

Lucky you! I'd love to hear them play live.

It was at the Purcell room. I'm sure they'll be back!

came here looking for LvB quartet advice, Jon does not disappoint as usual. I have the Guarneri middle quartet box and was wondering if the low ratings on Discogs were really applicable, guess not?