Beethoven's String Quartets

[Lethevich]

Has anyone heard the Barylli Quartet on Westminster? It must be one of the earlier complete recordings - I don't know why, as I've read nothing about them, but it's intriguing me. The recordings seem mysterious in some way

[Karl Henning]

(* sound of crickets *)

[North Star]

As it's EMI, the price is probably going to end up catastrophically low too Atm, for once, it isn't (but still good value).

[asin]B0057JWVKQ[/asin]
There is one surreal review on Amazon UK which gives it three stars with the title "incomplete". The reason? They don't record the alternate finale for Op.133. It's not like they left they bloody thing unfinished

Pffft!
Next someone will complain about leaving the Andante favori out of a recording of the piano sonatas.

[Scion7]

                click to expand


Their FIRST run at them ~1969 - I don't like the 2nd recording they did.
I found this at a huge record shop in Myrtle Beach, SC, in 1975 and grabbed it for maybe $10??
The surfaces from RCA Red Seal here were excellent.  The sound (at least on vinyl) is gorgeous.  Very intimate.

This one is available on CD but I have not heard the CD remaster - heard it was good?   http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-String-Quartets-Ludwig-van/dp/B000003F11




The Vivace of Op.135 is one of my faves.   

[kishnevi]

         

This one is available on CD but I have not heard the CD remaster - heard it was good?   http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-String-Quartets-Ludwig-van/dp/B000003F11

I've seen this at Barnes and Noble.  I didn't get it because it splits at least one of the quartets up between 2 CDs--splitting up works unnecessarily is a particular bete noire of mine--and I have the Brilliant issue of their later recording,  which--to tell the truth--I find to be first rate.

[Leo K.]

                click to expand


Their FIRST run at them ~1969 - I don't like the 2nd recording they did.
I found this at a huge record shop in Myrtle Beach, SC, in 1975 and grabbed it for maybe $10??
The surfaces from RCA Red Seal here were excellent.  The sound (at least on vinyl) is gorgeous.  Very intimate.

This one is available on CD but I have not heard the CD remaster - heard it was good?   http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-String-Quartets-Ludwig-van/dp/B000003F11




The Vivace of Op.135 is one of my faves.   

I found this last year in the used bin, the CD set, and have not heard this yet, but will perhaps take it off the shelf soon to have a listen. Been waiting for the Beethoven Quartet mood to come back 

[jlaurson]

I've seen this at Barnes and Noble.  I didn't get it because it splits at least one of the quartets up between 2 CDs--splitting up works unnecessarily is a particular bete noire of mine--and I have the Brilliant issue of their later recording,  which--to tell the truth--I find to be first rate.

I have the Brilliant ones, too (ex Philips, nut now also on Decca's European Eloquence series), but prefer this one, among the two:


LvB
SQ4ts
Guarneri I
RCA

Something more... burnished, linear, purposeful about it, if I had to clad it into vague words.


LvB
SQ4ts
Guarneri II
exPhilips

[kentel]

The Mosaiques Quartet's rendering is the best I've heard so far, as far as the op.18 is concerned (they havn't recorded the others yet) :



Neat, accurate, no tremblotto, no affectation: very rare qualities. If they could record the others, I would have my dream series of LvB's String Quartets.

[Lilas Pastia]

  The Hungarian Quartet is also legendary, but mono.

No it's not. 1965 stereo, and very decent sounding.

[Fafner]

No it's not. 1965 stereo, and very decent sounding.

This they record them twice?  This set says Mono, 1953. 

[asin]B000002SBM[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

This they record them twice?  This set says Mono, 1953. 

[asin]B000002SBM[/asin]

Ah, nostalgia! My first LvB quartet cycle!

[The new erato]

We are straying far from the Piano Sonatas now (Edit: thought I was in the sonatas thread........ ), but the Hungarian Quartet (as well as early Juillard) is artists were I would really like to see some big boxes. I would be all over them if that happened. I haven't heard their Beethoven, but their Bartok is still in some ways reference for me.

[Que]

(Edit: thought I was in the sonatas thread........ )

You were...

Q

[The new erato]

Suspected as much......

[mjwal]

Quote from: Brahmsian on January 24, 2011, 10:35:34 AM

   

    Well, let us remember that one man's stink bomb is another man's potpourri.


I just came across this when reading the thread backwards: very funny. - Keeping that in mind, and pointing out that I have none of my Beethoven quartet CDs here, I'm going to say that I like the Barylli - mentioned above - very much in Op.74, which I downloaded and have on my hard disc. They have enormous richness, power & acerbity combined. I do not find their playing "mysterious", though, Lethevich.The old recording bothers me not at all. I then listened to the Belcea live in the first movement of Op.74, which I also downloaded, and found them rather too constrained, lacking in real verve or power, let alone any of the otherworldly aspects of B. Then I listened to the Pascal Quartet in the same movement - and was gripped and awed by the sheer strangeness/mystery of the music, something that the Hagen - I agree with Mandryka on this - sometimes find in late B (I only know their Opp.95,127, 130 & 132 - Op.131 seems to have become almost a rarity already judging by the price I saw on Amazon). The end of the development and the coda are particularly stunning in this respect - I had the feeling that it has to go like this. One difference from the Barylli is that they more often use a ghostly or biting vibratoless tone; the Barylli are more Viennese, if I may put it thus. I have also had that feeling of rightness with the Hungarian Qt (1953) in the late quartets but cannot specify now, not being in a position to play them at present. I have also enjoyed the Juilliard (60s), the Vegh (70s?) and Talich, but cannot make any specific comments on them for the same reason. I have not heard the Takacs, Artemis et autres Lindsays. To come back to the Pascal QT: they are all free in very decent transcriptions on the Internet Archive, very much worth checking out. I hesitate to say that you should download them all now, but remembering that Japanese site Public Domain Classic with hundreds of classic mono recordings (30s- early 50s) which disappeared overnight a few months ago, I wouldn't bet on anything being available forever...

[Lilas Pastia]

This they record them twice?  This set says Mono, 1953. 

[asin]B000002SBM[/asin]

Fafner, where are you now .

Yes, they recorded it twice, in 1953 and over a few years in the sixties ( the latter in stereo), both times in Paris.

What's in a name? String quartets have a way of morphing into a different ensemble as personnel changes. Only two of the 1953 members remained when they gave the LvB quartets another go. If you look up Classicstotay reviews you'll find an interesting comparison between the two sets. It pretty well sums up the qualities I find in this one. All the more reason to sample that wonderful EMI box !

[The new erato]

Now this is back:

[asin]B0090OPC2S[/asin]

Superb performances, ridiculous price (26 Euros on amazon.fr).

[petrarch]

New cycle in the making:

[asin]B0092YHIVO[/asin]

I am a Berg and Takács admirer, but my curiosity is piqued. It seems the recordings are all from their recent year-long series of concerts.

[Todd]

New cycle in the making:

[asin]B0092YHIVO[/asin]

Most intriguing.  I think I shall have to investigate.

[xochitl]

anyone like the kodaly quartet?  their recording of op 130 [especially the grosse fuge] is probably my favorite