Your 5 favourite String Quartet Ensembles

[Sergeant Rock]

Snyprrr, can you just please name me 5 string quartet ensembles that you like best? 

I don't think he'd chance it, Nut. His head would probably explode if he tried.

Sarge

[Brahmsian]

I don't think he'd chance it, Nut. His head would probably explode if he tried.

Sarge

I have yet to include his "list".  It's more complex than solving the 'Caramilk Secret'. 

[The new erato]

Best is impossible. Favorite is easy:

Takacs
Mosaique
Busch
Pavel Haas
Hungarian (mainly on the strength of their Bartok, wish I knew more of them)

[petrarch]

Arditti
LaSalle
JACK
Emerson
Diotima

[Conor71]

Alban Berg
Amadeus
Emerson
Kodaly
Melos

[Brahmsian]

Alban Berg
Amadeus
Emerson
Kodaly
Melos

I like your picks, Conor.  All of those could have made my list.  Well, the Emerson did.

[Conor71]

Quote from: ChamberNut on Today at 08:58:27 AM

I like your picks, Conor.  All of those could have made my list.  Well, the Emerson did.

Thanks mate! 

[mszczuj]

Borodin
Festetics
Italiano
Kodaly
Suske

[Brahmsian]

Tally, after 23 votes:

Mosaiques   11
Alban Berg   8
Quartetto Italiano   8
Emerson   7
Vegh   6
Arditti   5
Takacs   5
Budapest   4
Hagen   4
Pavel Haas   4
Busch   3
Festetics   3
Jerusalem   3
Prazak   3
Amadeus   2
Borodin   2
Fine Arts   2
Kodaly   2
Leipziger Streichquartett   2
Lindsays   2
Pacifica   2
Alexander   1
Artemis   1
Carpe Diem   1
Diotima                1
Ebene   1
Fitzwilliam   1
Griller   1
Hungarian     1
JACK       1
Julliard   1
Kronos   1
Kuijken   1
LaSalle    1
Maggini   1
Marcolini   1
Melos      1
Panocha   1
Petersen   1
Prague   1
Schuppanzigh   1
Smetana   1
Suske      1
Taneyev   1
Tatrai   1
Tokyo   1
Vermeer   1

[Lilas Pastia]

This is very nard. I'm actually surprised at the difficulty of figuring out what makes a great quartet sound and ensemble. My idea is that individual personnality of its members is more important than the collective sound they produce. IOW what I prefer is to hear four instruments rather than an ensemble.

I haven't heard many in concert, but the Amadeus, Fitzwilliam and Talich spring up. Of course, the chosen repertoire also matters. In this even more than with instrumentalists, string quartets seem prone to carve a niche through which they jealously preserve their identity. Therefore it's hard to distinguish between great string quartets and great interpreters of say, the Beethoven quartets, or the Shostakovich, Dvorak, Haydn or Ravel... If I were to choose 3 quartets by which I'd judge an ensemble's qualities, they would be Haydn op. 76:2, Dvorak op. 106 and the Ravel quartet.

OK no more dithering, so here goes:

Hungarian Quartet...................for their nonpareil Beethoven
Talich Quartet.........................for their Dvorak and Martinu
Fitzwilliam Quartet..................for their emotionally idiomatic Shostakovich
Quatuor Pascal.......................for their Ravel and Debussy
Quartett Collegium Aureum......for their unique (best ever IMHO) op. 132 and D. 810

I could add the Vegh, Amadeus and the old Fine Arts Quartets. I have extremely fond memories of the latter's Haydn op. 76 and Mozart 'Haydn' quartets.

[pbarach]

Nobody likes the Guarneri??

[DavidRoss]

Nobody likes the Guarneri??

I do.

[mahler10th]

 

1. Takacs
2. Borodin
3. Fitzwilliam
4. Quartetto Italiano
5. Kronos

[Brahmsian]

1. Takacs
2. Borodin
3. Fitzwilliam
4. Quartetto Italiano
5. Kronos

John, do you even enjoy string quartets? 

[Bogey]

Smetana (any)
Vegh (LvB)
Italiano (Wolfie)
Tatrai (Papa)
Busch (Especially when Serkin sat in!)

[mahler10th]

John, do you even enjoy string quartets? 

Eh...no idea why you ask, even in jest?   
But, och aye, a good string quartet can express  more in a single movement than an entire boxset of symphonies.

[Brahmsian]

Eh...no idea why you ask, even in jest?   
But, och aye, a good string quartet can express  more in a single movement than an entire boxset of symphonies.

Sorry John.  Yes, it was meant in jest, but I apologize still.  For some reason, I thought perhaps you didn't like chamber music.  My mistake.

Perhaps I am thinking of the other John?  (ie. Mirror Image)

[Beale]

Busch
Quatuor Mosaiques
Budapest
Alban Berg
Tokyo

Although I did not choose the Takacs, I really liked their cellist.

[DavidRoss]

Welcome, Beale.  Is that Hanging Rock?

[Beale]

Welcome, Beale.  Is that Hanging Rock?

Yes, it is indeed.