A Mozart library limited to Five discs

[Gurn Blanston]

If you find the Grumiaux too sugary a good alternative might be the Griller Quartet w/Primrose on Vanguard (OOP, however). Highly nuanced, probing, and not too sentimentalized.

That's MY choice. Wonderful pair of disks. I'm a Grumiaux fan, but these Griller disks are in a class of their own (see my second list of recs above. There they are!) 



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Listening to:
Barry Douglas - Op 116 #4 Intermezzo in E for Piano

[Dancing Divertimentian]

That's MY choice. Wonderful pair of disks. I'm a Grumiaux fan, but these Griller disks are in a class of their own (see my second list of recs above. There they are!) 

Apologies, Gurn. I did notice your rec but failed to acknowledge it. Shoulda known - there's no fooling around with another's Mozart recs!    

[Gurn Blanston]

Apologies, Gurn. I did notice your rec but failed to acknowledge it. Shoulda known - there's no fooling around with another's Mozart recs!    

No problem there, matey, I would have never known about it if your superior discernment hadn't put me on the track in the first place. Note also on that list the Mosaiques quartets which you also put me on to. Credit where credit is due, and it's due big time here.



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Listening to:
Mendelssohn Piano Quartets - Bartholdy Piano Quartet - FMB Quartet #3 in b for Piano & Strings Op 3 3rd mvmt

[Dancing Divertimentian]

No problem there, matey, I would have never known about it if your superior discernment hadn't put me on the track in the first place. Note also on that list the Mosaiques quartets which you also put me on to. Credit where credit is due, and it's due big time here.

*Blush emoticon*

[adamdavid80]

Okay, you two.  Get a room already.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Okay, you two.  Get a room already.

It's either this or bickering. Take it or leave it!

[Herman]

No, I'm afraid I do not like the Griller Quartet a lot. If I want urban, neurotic kind of Mozart playing I prefer the early Juilliard Qt.

Speaking of which, the sixties Mozart recordings by the Juilliard Qt were, at long last, rereleased recently. I hadn't heard them for a long time, since I unhooked my turntable, and I was a little disappointed. A couple of mannerisms (such as the way every phrase is neatly rounded off in a tiny diminuendo) I had never noticed before started bugging me soon.

[dirkronk]

Guess it's time for me to revisit some recordings. I thought I had more Griller (and more Grumiaux in chamber groups) than I actually do...but it turns out that I have the WAM quintets with neither. I DO have the "Completed" Tatrai Quartet doing these works on Hungaraton LP, and recall loving them last time I listened. Which was a LONG time ago. Ergo, I should plan a spin of these soon, so that I can at least speak with a modicum of sense (never mind authority) on the topic.

Dirk

[Dancing Divertimentian]

No, I'm afraid I do not like the Griller Quartet a lot. If I want urban, neurotic kind of Mozart playing I prefer the early Juilliard Qt.

That's quite a leap. Not sure how you go from Mozart to "urban" - assuming of course you mean urban in the pejorative, as in "street", "gutter", or whatever.

The Grillers certainly aren't "gutter". They have quite the urbane (as opposed to urban) side when called for and plenty of umph! when needed.

Which might come as a shock if one is accustomed to the likes of, say, the Amadeus quartet in this music, which is a group notable for its reticence.

But conceptually the Griller's make fine - and artistic! - work of this music.

[Herman]

Well, you know the funny thing is I pulled out two Griller discs yesterday (I guess that happens when you're back with GMG) and Strangely I had different reactions. I rather liked the Dutton disc with the K387 and K421, plus a great Haydn Op 33.3. I couldn't imagine why I didn't like the Grillers. Then I got the disc with Mozart quintets and played the K614 in E-flat, one of my favorite quintets. And it all came back to me. This is the nervous, definitely unpastoral (i.e. urban) style I disliked. And the E-flat's Andante is treacly slow IMO, and even more sugary than the GRumiaux  -  i.e. too sugary.

So there you go.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

So there you go.

Thanks.

The extra input is appreciated. Your earlier two-line description left quite a bit to the imagination.   

[ChamberNut]

Very difficult choices! 

Here are my 5:

1.  Symphonies 40 & 41 (Szell/Cleveland Orchestra, CBS Records label)

2.  Horn Concertos 1-4 (Jacek Muzyk, horn/Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio/Agnieszka Duczmal conducting, Naxos label)

3.  String Quintets K.515 and K.516 (Talich Quartet w/ Karel Rehak viola II, Calliope label)

4.  Requiem K. 626 (Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic, DG label)

5.  Gran Partita Serenade, K. 361  (Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Marriner, Philips label)

[adamdavid80]

Just picked up the Imeerseel PCs 20 and 21.  very good, excellent orchestration and sound quality, but I'm still going with Brendel/marriner and the anda as my faves.

[71 dB]

So many have symphonies 40 & 41 but omit 39 which is my favorite. Mozart wrote too much great music to be limited to 5 CDs. 

[Herman]

So many have symphonies 40 & 41 but omit 39 which is my favorite. Mozart wrote too much great music to be limited to 5 CDs. 

That goes without saying. Symphony 38, "Prague" is stunning, too.

[Herman]

Another Mozart set of works you absolutely need (apart from the Prussian Quartets, the Gran Partita, the String Quintets and the quintet for winds and piano K452) is the Piano Quartets, two wonderful pieces. An excellent recording by the Beaux Arts Trio, and there are probably a few more.

[dirkronk]

That goes without saying. Symphony 38, "Prague" is stunning, too.

Yes it is. I love that work. And I'm sad that Szell never made a commercial recording of the Prague to go along with his superb 35, 39, 40 and 41. He DID do a live performance in the mid 1960s and I was able to download it from a friendly online site, but have not yet had a chance to compare it to Britten, Beecham and others whose 38s I love.

Oddly enough, Hogwood's late Mozart symphonies do not always move me (I can't even recall his Prague, so it apparently made little impression on me), though I truly love many of his early ones.

Cheers,

Dirk

[adamdavid80]

Requiem - Schreier/Philips

Picked up this one today!  7 bucks, like new, can't wait to get home and let it make me feel the full effect of the global financial apocolypse!  Thanks Don!  (still looking for the leppard)

[DavidW]

Well, you know the funny thing is I pulled out two Griller discs yesterday (I guess that happens when you're back with GMG) and Strangely I had different reactions. I rather liked the Dutton disc with the K387 and K421, plus a great Haydn Op 33.3. I couldn't imagine why I didn't like the Grillers. Then I got the disc with Mozart quintets and played the K614 in E-flat, one of my favorite quintets. And it all came back to me. This is the nervous, definitely unpastoral (i.e. urban) style I disliked. And the E-flat's Andante is treacly slow IMO, and even more sugary than the GRumiaux  -  i.e. too sugary.

So there you go.

I like the recordings, no love the recordings, but I completely agree with that description.  Now I just have to find those Juilliard recordings you mentioned!