CD Purchase of the Year? Or, the Beethoven Quartet plays DSCH

Started by Todd, July 31, 2007, 07:11:47 AM

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Todd

July 31, 2007, 07:11:47 AM


I wasn't really in the market for another cycle of Shostakovich's string quartets, but whilst perusing the 'S' section of the local CD hut, I stumbled upon the complete cycle played by the Beethoven Quartet in one niftily handy box from Doremi.  The price was (and is) a bit steep at full price, but the mere snippets I had heard before – while shopping at the same store I might add, though at a different time and in a different transfer  – convinced me that when a set was available I should buy.  The set was available.  I bought. 

To say I'm glad I did is a major understatement.  Based on my listening experience, I'd say that this is the finest overall cycle I've heard.  Now, I've heard only 60% of the Borodin's Melodiya cycle (and I intend to buy the recently reissued set soon), and then it's been a few years since I heard that, but that minor caveat aside, this set is unlike other cycles.  Immediacy and urgency and intensity are the primary interpretive elements here, and they reveal something new in the works, at least for me.  Since the Beethoven Quartet reportedly premiered 13 of the 15 quartets, one might be able to say they had the inside track on what the music was all about.  One presumes they worked closely with the composer.  It shows. 

The first notable trait is the immediacy of the music, by which I mean the ensemble plays it with an unencumbered vitality and freshness.  This was new music, and the Beethovens were entrusted to bring it to life.  Even in the earliest quartets, recorded years after the actual debuts, display this characteristic.  Urgency, well, that comes with the newness and the nature of the music itself.  Each bar, each note usually seems to be played with a sense of importance not always heard in more recent recordings.  And the intensity is notable.  I've not yet heard a 3rd quartet of greater intensity.  That's because I generally don't think of the 3rd as an especially intense quartet compared to some of the others.  Ditto the 4th, 7th, and even 13th and 14th.  It's not that I ever thought of any of the works as soft at all, but just never this intense. 

The entire cycle can be viewed as a series of highlights, though within the highlights I'd also single out the 8th and 12th, in addition to the five previously mentioned, as especially worthy of mention.  The 8th is supposed to be searing and intensely depressing and unyielding at times, but the Beethovens play it at a different level than most.  The 12th is also quite remarkable, the second movement, in particular.  Each instrument seems to twitch out the music in a modernist cacophony that almost literally assaults one's ears, yet one cannot, must not turn away or turn the volume down.   Amazing stuff.

The set is not without flaws, of course.  Sound quality is variable, for instance.  Generally speaking, the sound improves as one advances through the works.  The earliest recordings are transferred from LPs, I assume, and the folks at Doremi took the heavy duty filtering approach.  The sound is clean and dry up to a certain frequency, then everything disappears.  Fortunately, one still gets to hear all of the music.  While things do improve, some individual quartets sound quite poor.  The 5th at times sounds as though the dangerously enlarged viola is about to devour the other instruments.  The 10th and 13th have a shrillness that I doubt can ever be removed.  I wouldn't doubt if better transfers could be made, but somehow I don't think one could ever get something approaching SOTA sound, or even Fitzwilliam Quartet sound quality.  Also, while the ensemble is undoubtedly accomplished, they can't compete with more modern ensembles (Emerson, Danel) for sheer technical perfection.  There are some less than perfect notes and moments of less than fully pleasurable intonation, but they matter not at all.  The flaws are irrelevant; the music and the performances come together nearly perfectly.

Perhaps unusually, even though I think this is the best overall cycle I've heard, I'm not sure I'll always turn to the Beethoven Quartet first.  The rawness, the intensity make it challenging to listen to at times.  Sometimes I would rather just listen for the notes, for the structure, for the development.  At such times, the Danel remain my current ensemble of choice.  But when I want to get to the heart of the matter, the Beethoven Quartet is the way to go.

Which is truly my purchase of the year now: Russell Sherman's Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle or this release?  Probably both.  (And a few others.)
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

bhodges

#1
July 31, 2007, 07:45:40 AM
Thanks for the detailed comments (loved the "dangerously enlarged viola") which make this sound quite interesting.  I have the Emersons, and like them, but am always up for a different take on these pieces. 

--Bruce

dirkronk

#2
July 31, 2007, 09:35:43 AM
Congratulations on the purchase, Todd. You've just learned more fully why I gush about these guys. Hearing their take of the 4th quartet on an ancient MK mono LP was enough to convert me, many years back. Since reissue of the Shostakovich quartet cycle was on my want list (in the thread of similar name a while back) and since you posted about this set and someone else noted the availability of Melodiya reissues, I have to wonder how the Melodiyas compare to your Doremi set. Can anyone with both enlighten us? Or does anyone have the new(ish) Melodiya transfers to comment on? As I've noted before, the few old Consonance CD issues I own are sadly shrill. And before I forget to say it, thanks from me, too, Todd, for your comments on this issue. Something tells me I'm going to be letting loose of some CD-buying shekels soon.

While I wait for some consensus to form, I'll comfort myself with the few Beethoven Quartet odds and ends I've managed to scrape together on CD and vinyl...not just Shostakovich quartets, but assorted other Shostie items (some with the composer playing piano) and a smattering of their Beethoven as well. As I continue to hope, perhaps some enterprising Russian or Eastern European publishing house will uncover a treasure trove of this group's work--for I have to believe that there's much more out there than just the Shostie and Beethoven!

Continue to enjoy!

Dirk

Dancing Divertimentian

#3
August 01, 2007, 09:03:00 PM
Fantastic review, Todd!

Yes, Doremi and 'heavily filtered' seem to be inexorably linked. What a joy it would be to hear this cycle in a cleaned up (as best a possible) Melodiya transfer - to get as close as possible to the 'heart' of the Beethoven's conception.

But in lieu of that what can one do? Thanks must go to Doremi for even releasing this set!

I think I have my first Christmas item lined up...




Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

Que

#4
August 01, 2007, 09:13:07 PM
It seems that Melodiya has already reissued some of these recordings (pictures from jpc).




Q

Dancing Divertimentian

#5
August 01, 2007, 09:32:39 PM
Quote from: Que on August 01, 2007, 09:13:07 PM
It seems that Melodiya has already reissued some of these recordings (pictures from jpc).


Boy, with little fanfare these have leaked out!

Melodiya needs to hire a better PR team! ;D

Now if I can just find these Stateside...



Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

The new erato

#6
August 01, 2007, 11:36:41 PM
Available at mdt.co.uk also.

Sadly Melodiya, in true capitalist fashion, prices their reissues outrageously, among the most expensive discs on mdt.

Several issues have been (are) available on Regis ie for 1/3 of their Melodiya price (eg Nikolaeva Preludes & Fugues cycle etc, etc).

BorisG

#8
August 02, 2007, 08:18:56 PM
This thread features drastic logic, that the first attempts must be the best. I suppose they were, until the next group came along. And the next, and the next, and the next.

The backseat Beethoven (to atleast four sets) only has some historical value.

Todd

#9
August 03, 2007, 05:46:13 AM Last Edit: August 03, 2007, 05:56:26 AM by Todd
Quote from: BorisG on August 02, 2007, 08:18:56 PMThis thread features drastic logic, that the first attempts must be the best.



Really?  Where did I or anyone else make such an assertion?  In this case I would say that the Beethoven Quartet is in fact better than most subsequent ensembles in many ways, but not all ways, hence my preference for the Danel under some circumstances.  The first is not always, or even regularly, the best.  For instance, I would never state that the Pro Arte are the best in some Bartok simply because they happened to record some of his music first.  The only person attempting to make any assertion that the first is the best is you, in an obviously negative way. 

Since you apparently fancy yourself some type of supreme authority on this music, please enlighten everyone as to who offers the amazing performances you refer to, and the definitive basis for your proclamations.


The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya
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