Recordings That You Are Considering

[prémont]

Perhaps an impossible question to answer, but I'll ask it anyway: what are your top picks? 

Yes, an impossible question, and furthermore I haven't listened carefully to all forty sets so far, but at the moment my top picks for a complete set are: Vegh Quartet stereo (the set which convinced me of the music), Alexander Quartet, first set on Arte Nova - haven't heard their second on Foghorn. Suske Quartet on Berlin Classics and Schäffer Quartet (recently rereleased by Forgotten Records). I also have a weak spot for the Kodaly Quartet on Naxos. Notable sets I own but haven't listened to yet are Belcea Quartet, Artemis Quartet and Tokyo Quartet (both sets) and Budapest Quartet (both sets).

[prémont]

I'm not up to 40, but I think the conclusion is the same for me. I keep forgetting how many sets I have that I haven't listened to yet.

My situation too, and so much more reason to do a purchase-break.

[Que]

Yes, an impossible question, and furthermore I haven't listened carefully to all forty sets so far, but at the moment my top picks for a complete set are: Vegh Quartet stereo (the set which convinced me of the music), Alexander Quartet, first set on Arte Nova - haven't heard their second on Foghorn. Suske Quartet on Berlin Classics and Schäffer Quartet (recently rereleased by Forgotten Records). I also have a weak spot for the Kodaly Quartet on Naxos. Notable sets I own but haven't listened to yet are Belcea Quartet, Artemis Quartet and Tokyo Quartet (both sets) and Budapest Quartet (both sets).

Thank you! 

[Spotted Horses]

Yes, an impossible question, and furthermore I haven't listened carefully to all forty sets so far, but at the moment my top picks for a complete set are: Vegh Quartet stereo (the set which convinced me of the music), Alexander Quartet, first set on Arte Nova - haven't heard their second on Foghorn. Suske Quartet on Berlin Classics and Schäffer Quartet (recently rereleased by Forgotten Records). I also have a weak spot for the Kodaly Quartet on Naxos. Notable sets I own but haven't listened to yet are Belcea Quartet, Artemis Quartet and Tokyo Quartet (both sets) and Budapest Quartet (both sets).

I couldn't help notice the Quartetto Italiano didn't make your list. I like them, but I think my most preferred is the Vermeer Quartet on Teldec. I also liked the LaSalle quartet's recordings of the late recordings a lit, although they sounded better on LP than they did on CD reissues.

[prémont]

I couldn't help notice the Quartetto Italiano didn't make your list. I like them, but I think my most preferred is the Vermeer Quartet on Teldec. I also liked the LaSalle quartet's recordings of the late recordings a lit, although they sounded better on LP than they did on CD reissues.

As to the Vermeer Quartet my memory of it would put it rather close below the ones I mentioned above. But I never really warmed to the Quartetto Italiano (which I also have heard live). They have been accused of being too sweet for Beethoven, and I think there is some truth in this, particularly concerning the late quartets. But my taste doesn't oblige anyone.

[Madiel]

Golly. I own one combined set (1/3 Tokyo and 2/3 Takacs). Vaguely considering the possibility of expanding to 2 but I'm not in any rush.

[Jo498]

I listened to all or almost all of the Ebene when they were available on that Dutch radio station. They were very good but not extraordinary enough for me to get another box of this music. I have "only" Hungarian Qt. (stereo), Juilliard (1960s), Vegh stereo, Melos (DG), Musikverein (Platz) complete but enough partial (mostly late) sets and single discs to have at least 10 recordings of each quartet. And it is music I have listened to so oft, that I rarely listen to it any more.

But for someone who has no or only one set, the Ebene box is almost certainly a very good option.

[The new erato]

I like the Talich set on Calliope quite a lot. Not to mention the Busch versions of the late quartets (of course, not a complete cycle) which are probably my favorites of the late quartets overall.

I have the Vegh, Talich, Takacs, Prazak and early Budapest complete sets. Yale and Italian Qt sets of the late quartets, and of course dozen of individual discs by the Pavel Haas, Vlach Qt, Hagen and quartets by various historical ensembles ad absurdum.

This is music I have listened to regularly for 40 years and never tire of.

[Spotted Horses]

I kick myself for having sold the Vegh/Naive set years ago. It went out of print, and now it can be had, but for a king's ransom.

I find myself listening to the Vermeer, Guarneri, Italiano, Endellion, although I have a bunch of other sets I got out of obsessiveness when the various labels started releasing their Beethoven cycles for very attractive prices.

[amw]

I have (recommendations in bold):

Aeolian & Gabrieli Quartets combined cycle
Alban Berg Quartet II
Alexander Quartet I
Artemis Quartet
Auryn Quartet
Barylli Quartet
Belcea Quartet
Budapest Quartet 1952 (II)
Busch Quartet (incomplete)
Cuarteto Casals
Cleveland Quartet I & II
Quartetto di Cremona
Cypress Quartet
Quatuor Ébène
Emerson Quartet
Endellion Quartet
Guarneri Quartet I & II
Hagen Quartet (incomplete)
Hungarian Quartet I & II
Quartetto Italiano
Juilliard Quartet I
Leipzig Quartet
Léner Quartet
Lindsay Quartet I & II
Melos Quartet I & II
Miró Quartet
Mosaïques Quartet (incomplete)
Musikverein Quartet
Orford Quartet
Petersen Quartet (incomplete)
Philharmonia Quartett Berlin
Pražák Quartet
Takács Quartet
Talich Quartet
Taneyev Quartet
Végh Quartet II

Somewhat fewer cycles than I expected—there are a few more I don't actually have copies of and listened to via digital piracy or streaming services (Elias; Medici; Budapest III & Library of Congress "IV"; Smetana I & II; Alban Berg I, which I will probably obtain at some point; Tokyo II, of which I only actually own the late quartets). Others I am completely unfamiliar with (Suske, Gewandhaus, Vermeer, et al). My recommendations are of course completely different from premont's apart from the Végh Quartet, which I guess makes it the consensus recommendation (although overall I would first recommend to someone with no other Beethoven cycles the Takács).

The Ébène was likely the best Beethoven cycle of 2020 and presents a somewhat alternative or unusual view of the music with some atypical interpretive features that could be considered mannerisms (not as much so as e.g. Belcea, Elias, Lindsays, but in a similar category). It is not necessarily recommendable otherwise, and should be extensively sampled first. Nonetheless, people who like that sort of thing will find it the sort of thing they like.

[Spotted Horses]

The Ebene and Belcea tend to get mixed up in my head, for some reason. Now I remember considering the Belcea (on alpha), and I am tempted to get it, except for the nagging suspicion that I already have it. I get too tempted by low prices sometimes. I remember getting the Artemis just because it was only 13 pounds on amazon.uk.

I guess I am looking for something with a "French" musical esthetic.

[amw]

I guess I am looking for something with a "French" musical esthetic.

I've never heard any such national characteristics in music so I can't help you there.

[vers la flamme]

The Ebene and Belcea tend to get fixed up in my head, for some reason. Now I remember considering the Belcea (on alpha), and I am tempted to get it, except for the nagging suspicion that I already have it. I get too tempted by low prices sometimes. I remember getting the Artemis just because it was only 13 pounds on amazon.uk.

I guess I am looking for something with a "French" musical esthetic.

Better Ébène, then, than the multinational, London-based Belcea. I can't vouch for the former, never having heard it, but I've grown quite fond of the Belcea over the past year I've been listening to it. (Disclaimer; Not a collector nor connoisseur of these Beethoven SQ cycles by any means. I think I have two of them...)

[Spotted Horses]

I've never heard any such national characteristics in music so I can't help you there.

Think Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire vs Berliner Philharmoniker. Maybe was a distinction that made more sense when orchestra staffing was less cosmopolitan.

Better Ébène, then, than the multinational, London-based Belcea. I can't vouch for the former, never having heard it, but I've grown quite fond of the Belcea over the past year I've been listening to it. (Disclaimer; Not a collector nor connoisseur of these Beethoven SQ cycles by any means. I think I have two of them...)

Yes. The bottom line, I have enough Beethoven SQ recordings to last me well into the grave.

[amw]

Think Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire vs Berliner Philharmoniker. Maybe was a distinction that made more sense when orchestra staffing was less cosmopolitan.

String quartets have also been pretty cosmopolitan for a while (e.g., famously the Budapest Quartet had no Hungarian members for a long time), and playing styles in conservatories started to become "internationalised" as early as the 1950s, except in the USSR. This may be what you're looking for (though I haven't heard it myself):

[Spotted Horses]

String quartets have also been pretty cosmopolitan for a while (e.g., famously the Budapest Quartet had no Hungarian members for a long time), and playing styles in conservatories started to become "internationalised" as early as the 1950s, except in the USSR. This may be what you're looking for (though I haven't heard it myself):

That does look interesting...

[prémont]

String quartets have also been pretty cosmopolitan for a while (e.g., famously the Budapest Quartet had no Hungarian members for a long time), and playing styles in conservatories started to become "internationalised" as early as the 1950s, except in the USSR. This may be what you're looking for (though I haven't heard it myself):

I know this set is revered in France. What I have heard from it - very little - I would describe as being wooly in sound and undicided in expression. Forgotten Records has made a re-release of the complete set.

Forgotten Records has also released a new recording of the quartets made by the French Quatuor Stanislas, which got a very good review here:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Jun/Beethoven_quartets_FR1701.htm

Interview with the cellist:

https://interlude.hk/beethovens-quartets-the-complete-recording25-years-in-the-life-of-a-string-quartet/

Not having heard anything from it, I am unable to comment, but maybe this would be more like what Spotted Horses is looking for.

[T. D.]

I know this set is revered in France. What I have heard from it - very little - I would describe as being wooly in sound and undicided in expression. Forgotten Records has made a re-release of the complete set.

Forgotten Records has also released a new recording of the quartets made by the French Quatuor Stanislas, which got a very good review here:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Jun/Beethoven_quartets_FR1701.htm

Interview with the cellist:

https://interlude.hk/beethovens-quartets-the-complete-recording25-years-in-the-life-of-a-string-quartet/

Not having heard anything from it, I am unable to comment, but maybe this would be more like what Spotted Horses is looking for.

Thanks! I also like the "French musical aesthetic" (or whatever it is that I think I perceive as such), and this is extremely interesting.
At this point I only see the set offered by the label's website, and was only able to find it by indirect search ("FORGOTTEN RECORDS FR1701-08"). Will try to find clips to audition.

[DavidW]

I think I'm the only one that loves the Prazak!  Other than that I think I'm in alignment with amw except I don't like Emerson.

[Brian]

I think I'm the only one that loves the Prazak!  Other than that I think I'm in alignment with amw except I don't like Emerson.

Todd and I are card-carrying members of the Prazak fan club! I consider them my "main" cycle, with Vermeers for romance, Alexander II for romance + SOTA sound, Artemis for speed, and Endellion for not quite HIPness.