Blind Comparison: Schubert String Quintet D. 956 / Op. 163

[mc ukrneal]

Hasn't been much activity here lately. How is everyone else's listening going?

One out of 5. Hope to get the rest done soon, but real life keeps interfering. I need to actively listen and roughly 5 hours of time is not so simple. Will get there eventually....

[amw]

I've listened to three complete recordings, and picked the one I like most. One movement at a time was much simpler. I don't know if I'm actually capable of comparing five complete versions of four movements taken together. At the point when I stopped, late one night, it had begun to feel like an impossible task a Grimm Brothers princess has to complete by dawn or she'll be turned into a cello--a ticklish cello.

Hmm. Noted. If it helps at all, I met the Bruckner challenge by listening to one recording a day (roughly) and simply taking extensive notes including timings of particular features, then spot-comparing with the others. Don't know if that will work for everyone, though. And that still came out to be 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day or so which is a solid time commitment for four days in a row. Best of luck.

[kishnevi]

I have listened to four, and may do the fifth tonight. But I need to go back and listen to at least one of them to make sure I give it a fair hearing, and will at least do a spot check of the others.  And I work in retail, which will tell you what I will be doing this weekend.

[Brian]

I have a draft file of detailed listening notes elsewhere, and will post that at the end of the weekend, but this thread needs some activity badly with the deadline coming up next week, so here are my initial thoughts!

K1: love the first movement, it's near-perfect. The rest is just OK
K2: love the scherzo and finale, they're near-perfect. The rest is merely pretty good
K3: did not like this one at all
K4: aside from the allegro's Big Tune, I'm prepared to crown this one champion. Fantastic. I like vibrato a lot more than aukhawk does!
K5: (have not listened yet)

[Jay F]

K3 liked it

K2 K4 K5 meh

K1 hated it

[mc ukrneal]

I am still behind.

[amw]

Ooh, activity!

I may have to extend the deadline a little bit as the holiday season seems to be taking its toll on the voters. But we'll see.

[Brian]

Ooh, activity!

I may have to extend the deadline a little bit as the holiday season seems to be taking its toll on the voters. But we'll see.

Or banish aukhawk and Jay since their votes look to be the opposite of mine! 

[amw]

Hey, this way we get a good spread of first-place votes even if you're the only three voters.

[Jay F]

Or banish aukhawk and Jay since their votes look to be the opposite of mine! 

No. Banish Brian. How could you even listen to the shrieking, screeching K1? It was painful. 

[kishnevi]

My impression of K3 held up, so I am ready to name it the winner, mostly because of emotional heft and sense of coherent structure.  The others all lagged behind it in one way or another.  I did not like K1 first time but a rehearing improved it.  But only enough to tie it for second place with K2, K4, and K5.

On a scale of 1-5, 5 being highest.
K3    4.5
The others 3.

[Jo498]

I'll try to do it this weekend with the amw method. Have only listened to one of them and still have to download the last one.

[Brian]

No. Banish Brian. How could you even listen to the shrieking, screeching K1? It was painful. 

If anybody's screeching it's the totally unsubtle K3!

[Brian]

K1. Flawless ensemble, not just technically secure but great rapport between the five players. Boy, I love those growly cellos when they refuse to use vibrato. Some nicely sharp edges in the first movement don't detract from, but in fact bolster, the overall lyricism. A compromise, I guess.

Adagio is rather fast. I'm willing to forgive this because boy is the A/B contrast high, and boy is the dynamic range huge. Not going to be my first choice adagio, but a nice second choice. Same goes for the scherzo, which is excitingly played even if you can imagine it more excitinger. Again, they rely on dynamic contrast over tempo. I like the finale pretty well too, but this recording is starting to acquire the whiff of Honorable Mention. 8.2/10

K2. I recognize this one! Unfortunately, I recognize it from the boomy, echoey sound, surprising for such a new recording. Again, this is very very good, but am I convinced it's perfect? No. Am I increasingly convinced that we eliminated perfect? Yes. Like K1, with which it has a lot in common except maybe a slight lack of edginess/distinctiveness, the first movement is strongest and then things kind of move slightly downhill for the adagio. Overall I find the scherzo and finale stronger, however. The finale's coda is fantastic. So I find myself in a quandary over how to rank K1 and K2. I may have to re-listen to them later on to do a final ranking. 8.3/10

K3. This one's definitely a runner-up for me. Just doesn't match the inspiration of K1 and K2, and I didn't find those ideal, either. I just think the ensemble is a little less subtle - the touch seems heavier, not like they're trying to lay it on thick, certainly. It's just that phrasing and dynamics can be...obvious. Or a little monotonous. The adagio is better-paced, although I'm not wild about the first violinist. Scherzo was barely acceptable; I hope I didn't vote too enthusiastically for it. Meh. 5.5/10

K4. The first movement's Big Tune isn't perfectly tender and time-stopping, but what surrounds it is vigorous and powerful and interesting. The adagio is near-perfect, clearly the best I've heard in this round: slow, tender, contrasty, achingly beautiful, reverential almost, if that's a good word for it. Over 15 minutes.

The scherzo is quicker and lighter than K3. Again: contrast! The scherzo and adagio couldn't be more different, and I love it. The trio is a world apart again. This is the kind of broad outline I want from a performance. The finale is terrific. Overall, K1's first movement was somewhat better, but K4 takes a clear lead everywhere else, over both K1 and K2. Only the first movement Big Tune and maybe the tiniest softness in the scherzo is holding this back from a perfect score. 9.1/10

K5. Fifteen minutes in, I don't yet understand my friends' qualms about this performance. It may not be Totally Inspired, but not a second so far has been subpar or wanting in any way. Of course, I'm pretty sure I recognize it as the first recording I bought, and my longtime favorite. (The first performance of D956 I heard was a live concert by K2!)

Adagio is rather quick. Does this make 4/5 quick adagios? It doesn't bother me too much except when the A material returns after the big outburst, and then, now, it does sort of bother me. Final chord sort of evaporates. Scherzo is good, but trio suffers, now: dare I say it is afflicted with English reserve? Aside from the totally gnarly final cello note, the finale is merely pretty good.

The question will be: is the obvious superiority of K4's adagio enough to win the day? K1 may have my favorite allegro, and K2 my top scherzo. Tough. There's only one thing to do......listen to all of them over again!!

In case I do not have time, provisional ranking
1. K4
2. K2
3. K1
4. K5
5. K3

But I fully expect the top 4 to jump around wildly on my second listen!

[amw]

Thanks for the provisional ranking & detailed comments, I'll hold off on adding your rankings til later.

(I'd say 3 out of 5 are quick... one is just about exactly average in tempo)

[Pim]

For me K1 and K2 stand out.
K3 I liked in the beginning, but after repeated listening became less convincing compared to K1 and K2. Still very good.
K4 vibrato in the adagio does not work for me
K5 I found a meh

K1 = K2 > K3 > K4 = K5

Really tough to compare. Listened many times over the last few weeks, the music is so great that it drew me in, regardless of what version I was listening to.

[Jay F]

For me K1 and K2 stand out.
K3 I liked in the beginning, but after repeated listening became less convincing compared to K1 and K2. Still very good.
K4 vibrato in the adagio does not work for me
K5 I found a meh

K1 = K2 > K3 > K4 = K5

Really tough to compare. Listened many times over the last few weeks, the music is so great that it drew me in, regardless of what version I was listening to.

This is so true. Regardless of which version, I was still listening to Schubert's D956, and this is music that does not suck.

[aukhawk]

I quite agree, about this piece of music specifically. (Apart from this quintet, I don't listen to any Schubert at all.) 
And like Pim and Brian, I found it really hard to pick a preference between K1 & K2 especially.

Or banish aukhawk and Jay since their votes look to be the opposite of mine! 

No need, I'm obviously already on another planet 
Really the only significant point of difference is our view of K4, other than that our comments are generally rather similar.

[Brian]

Really the only significant point of difference is our view of K4, other than that our comments are generally rather similar.

But I do find that easy to understand: K4 is so romantic and vibrato-heavy and slow, it will really isolate the people who like/hate that mentality.

SECOND LISTEN
K1. The first movement is still all that. Electrically exciting, high-contrast, high dynamic range. And then, like before, the rest is merely pretty good. I'm curious why the attention detail and meticulous re-thinking of dynamics and phrasing in I. did not carry over to III. and (before the last 10 seconds) IV. Not that there's much wrong with this, aside from maybe the adagio, which could have had more heart. 7.5/10

K2. The sound bothered me less this time, but the adagio's speed does still bother me. On the other hand, the rest is very successful, and they save best for last in a thrilling finale. The first movement gives K1 a good run for its money, so I feel comfortable ranking this one higher. 8/10

K3. Okay, so I like this one way more the second time around. These decisions are not getting easier! I thought a second listen would make them easier! There are definitely still intonation issues and the first violinist is still not ideal, but the adagio beats the pants off K1 and K2, and the first movement is not bad. The scherzo, however, feels rather square, and the trio seems kind of religious rather than personal. Overall, I am sufficiently persuaded to place this higher. The first three contenders all have a strength and a weakness.

STRENGTHS
K1...first mvt
K2...second half
K3...adagio

WEAKNESSES
K1...none major, but II-IV do not beat competition
K2...adagio
K3...scherzo

How am I supposed to rank these? Apples and oranges. My overall impression of them is very similar: "mostly very good but flawed". The big-picture scoring is a tossup, because today I might prefer K3, but yesterday I preferred K2, and tomorrow it will probably be K1's turn.

amw: are we supposed to be ranking these? Or are we doing the traditional  system?

[amw]

You're welcome to give them any sort of ranking you'd like. I'd accept, e.g. K4 as +, K1-3 as and K5 as - (similar to what Jeffrey Smith did) if that's the direction you're leaning...

Thanks for the rankings Pim!