Haydn's String Quartets and the 20th century interpretation style

Started by staxomega, September 10, 2020, 05:35:42 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

staxomega

This is a great disc of the Op. 71 quartets, you can get it from their website.


Herman

Quote from: André on September 14, 2020, 09:07:57 AM
Nice covers indeed!

................................
My first ever set of Haydn SQ, almost 50 years ago was a 3 LP Vox Box of op 76 with the Fine Arts Quartet. Love at first listen !

I had a much larger Fine Arts Qt LP box, something like ten LPs. Those were happy hours. Sometimes I think those days when I used to have just one recording of any given work were so much more joyful, because I just listened to the music, not so much to the performance quality.

Herman

I have quite a bunch of Tatrai Haydn recordings and I can assure anyone who needs it they are not playing out of tune.

These were four musicians who had been playing for decades before they recorded these pieces, obviously there was studio staff as well. The idea that the Tatrai would play out of tune without anyone saying, "Let's go over this one more time," is just ridiculous.

I am listening to their op.50 now, a recording from 1987 (fairly late); even in the most exposed places the intonation is flawless.

Irons

Quote from: Herman on December 06, 2020, 10:04:41 AM
I have quite a bunch of Tatrai Haydn recordings and I can assure anyone who needs it they are not playing out of tune.

These were four musicians who had been playing for decades before they recorded these pieces, obviously there was studio staff as well. The idea that the Tatrai would play out of tune without anyone saying, "Let's go over this one more time," is just ridiculous.

I am listening to their op.50 now, a recording from 1987 (fairly late); even in the most exposed places the intonation is flawless.

Very well said.
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

staxomega

Going to agree with amw on Takacs in Op. 76, they are quite excellent.

Brass Hole

I think apart from the OP's LHQ, Mosaiques and Festetics there are a few other wonderful recordings, too. Such as Kuijkens in Op 76, Esterhazy in Op 20, Salomon in Op 50, Amsterdam in Lobkowitz and Apponyi in Op 33. Chiaroscuro is very very strong yet.

Mandryka

Quote from: Brass Hole on January 09, 2021, 09:10:15 AM
I think apart from the OP's LHQ, Mosaiques and Festetics there are a few other wonderful recordings, too. Such as Kuijkens in Op 76, Esterhazy in Op 20, Salomon in Op 50, Amsterdam in Lobkowitz and Apponyi in Op 33. Chiaroscuro is very very strong yet.

What do you think of a really old fashioned one which has divided so many people here (i.e. me against the rest of the world) -- Pro Arte?
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Brass Hole

Quote from: Mandryka on January 09, 2021, 09:21:29 AM
What do you think of a really old fashioned one which has divided so many people here (i.e. me against the rest of the world) -- Pro Arte?

I'm very partial to sound quality, too. I guess I couldn't listen to it when I was first pointed to it and I couldn't do it with the remastered high-resolution. What's the basis of the division?

Brahmsian

Quote from: vers la flamme on September 13, 2020, 06:46:04 AM
Right? I came in to recommend the Kodály Quartet only to see Que dismiss them as "uneventful". I think it's a great set!

Same here, I love this set.

Brass Hole

Quote from: OrchestralNut on January 09, 2021, 09:37:44 AM
Same here, I love this set.

Kodaly is my first choice as a set on MI but I believe the day I started to listen to Trio 1790's set Haydn's chamber music on modern instruments came to an end for me.

Mandryka

Quote from: Brass Hole on January 09, 2021, 09:42:46 AM
Kodaly is my first choice as a set on MI but I believe the day I started to listen to Trio 1790's set Haydn's chamber music on modern instruments came to an end for me.

Oh nothing interesting. I like the the way they sometimes make the music swing, others don't!
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

staxomega

Since this thread has been bumped and I said I'd write something about Schneider Quartet in the Haydn composer thread- I've listened to all but four discs in this box, these pretty much hit the spot perfectly with what my intent was when I started this thread. All of this should be read with the caveat that I love early-mid period Budapest Quartet. 

These have that "reverence" in the slow movements, and generally played with more vibrato. In my opinion they could strike a more even balance between the earthyness, reverence, humor, wit and its more present in Festetics and Auryn's cycles and why these will still be my go to big cycles for ease of listening in large amounts. Still there is very minimal stodginess in Schneider which was one of my complaints when sampling Tatrai.

Schneider are more for isolated listening, I can't see myself listening to discs on end (note this is also my bias towards more modern sensibilities/my taste), but damn is this good music making. That combination of their integrated style and the mono sound (of course I'd have preferred this to be stereo) creates an agreeable, chamber quality when hearing them.

Most of this box is up on a Schneider Quartet Youtube channel and I sampled a good amount of it there before buying. 

Music & Arts transfers don't sound like they have done anything to impact the timbre and fidelity of the instruments but there is less tape hiss than what I would expect for 1950s tape, to my ears it sounds like this was reduced only through EQ and not something like No Noise as I hear no artifacts that hideous noise reduction system leaves behind. The tape hiss is still present at active listening levels so I might be wrong, this might just be from quieter tape formulation, Decca for instance were using quite expensive tape in the 50s. Some pieces sound like they came from LPs and not tape.