Mozart

[W.A. Mozart]

What do you think about the string quartet 17?

[Mandryka]

I'm generally not very keen on fast music which moves forward with a regular predictable beat, so much of this quartet was a bit of closed book for me for a long time. The great revelation, the thing which made me appreciate it, was hearing the latest incarnation by The Hagen Quartet, which is quite introspective, highly embellished,  and for me, much more expressively interesting than pretty well every other K458 I've heard.

This release

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suKsbdSif4A&list=OLAK5uy_lYHpKkdBfuccEjZc81zeitpGCWIoD3nA0&ab_channel=HagenQuartett-Topic

[Jo498]

It might be the "lightest" of the 6 quartets dedicated to Haydn but I really love the piece. I like predictable fast music but it has also a gorgeous slow movement (probably my favorite slow of these 6) and Mozart smartly put a rather moderate "courtly" minuet in such a piece with very lively outer movements.

[Spotted Horses]

I listened to it recently (in the Amadeus Quartet recording) and was most struck by the haunting slow movement.

[W.A. Mozart]

What about the Divertimento No. 17?

[vers la flamme]

I'm interested in getting a complete cycle of the string quartets, as I've only heard the Haydns. Any recommendations? Or if not for a complete set, maybe a recommendation for a recording of some of the string quartets beyond the Haydns that are worth hearing?

[Mandryka]

I'm interested in getting a complete cycle of the string quartets, as I've only heard the Haydns. Any recommendations? Or if not for a complete set, maybe a recommendation for a recording of some of the string quartets beyond the Haydns that are worth hearing?

Have you not heard the four that follow the Haydns? The Hoffmeister and the Prussians.

I started a little thread here somewhere on the early quartets -- I got distracted.  Casals Quartet was pretty good from memory.

[Jo498]

The last 4 quartets are essential; the 11 early works are certainly nice to have.
The cheapest/easiest boxes of all are probably Italiano and Hagen. The Italiano might be a bit too serious in the early works but they are still very good overall.
The Hagen recorded the early pieces in their "straight" phase (there was a separate 3 disc box around the 1991 anniversary, but the more recent complet box is certainly easier to find) and the later pieces are also not as mannered as some of their post-DG recordings.
However, the Hagens might be a bit to intervening/flexible for some listeners in the mature quartets (14-23).

[Florestan]

My go-to complete set is this one:



A corker of a sleeper.

[BWV 1080]

I'm interested in getting a complete cycle of the string quartets, as I've only heard the Haydns. Any recommendations? Or if not for a complete set, maybe a recommendation for a recording of some of the string quartets beyond the Haydns that are worth hearing?

The string quintets are more essential than the non-Haydn SQs, would go there first.  Hard to do better than Auryn on either the quartets or quintets

[vers la flamme]

The string quintets are more essential than the non-Haydn SQs, would go there first.  Hard to do better than Auryn on either the quartets or quintets

I'm quite familiar with the quintets already; they're great.

[Karl Henning]

I'm interested in getting a complete cycle of the string quartets, as I've only heard the Haydns. Any recommendations? Or if not for a complete set, maybe a recommendation for a recording of some of the string quartets beyond the Haydns that are worth hearing?

My first foray into the entire set of quartets was the Amadeus Quartet. I still like them.

[Spotted Horses]

My first foray into the entire set of quartets was the Amadeus Quartet. I still like them.

I quite liked the Amadeus, but the sound is dated, which might be an issue for some. Others I like are the Alban Berg Quartet (Telefunken->Teldec->Warner) from the 70's, the Hagen Quartet, the Quartetto Italiano. I've recently acquired the Armida, which is cheap on Amazon despite being relatively new.