Your favorite string quartets

In some respects String Quartets is a boring subject. They just exist and those who play or listen to them are mature enough to figure out what to listen to him or herself - and that's usually the same stuff.

Life is easy for string qt lovers. They'll just say "K. 464" or "Heilige Dankgesang" and they hear the same thing. I scored women with the Hunt Quartet (long time ago).

You are one lucky guy, Todd, in not liking Mozart string quartets yet. It means you will at some future point, and all this time you'll have this discovery waiting for you - one of the major things in your musical life (and there's the Mozart Operas too!)

I'm not teasing you when I start with most of Mozart's Quartets. It just so happens they are the best. The first out of Mozart's "Haydn" set (K 387) is just like the Parthenon or Byron's Don Juan: it's one of those artistic / technical breakthoughs that has a terrific emotional impact, too. This is something that doesn't happen a lot. Usually there's the avant garde first, and then someone else translates it into human terms.

So this is a list:

Mozart: 387, 421, 428 (first three Haydn Qts: Amadeus Qt)
Mozart: 575, 589, 590 (the Prussian Qts, so spare they often sound like trios: Melos Qt on pre digital Intercord)

Beethoven: 130, 131 (Alban Berg),
Beethoven: Op 59 (1, 2, 3) Italiano
Beethoven: 132, 127

Brahms: 3, 1, 2 (Italiano)

This is the point where all the other mature Mozart and Beethoven Qts enter, wondering why they had to wait in the hall.

Haydn: 76 (Mosaiques)

From here on in all works are ex aequo. String quartets is by nature a democratic genre.

Ravel (Italiano) - it's like robbing the bank: excepting the finale every mvt is just note perfect. How did this young man do it? As the Greek philosopher said you can not rob the same bank twice.

Schumann: 1, 3 Eroica Qt (terribly underestimated works)

Reger: 4, 5, 3 (Mannheim)

Dvorak: 13, 14, 12 (Prazak Qt)

Schubert: 14, 15, 13 (Alban Berg)

Shostakovich: 13 (the aptly numbered alto piece), 15, 12, 14, 3 (Borodin on Melodyia) - what makes these pieces so wonderful is that they're trye renaissance works. They're expressive of the composer's soul, but they're a reflection / reckoning with the entire genre, too.

Enter all other Haydn Qts.

Debussy (Italiano)

Bartok: 6, 2 (Tokyo)

Britten: 3 (Amadeus Qt)

Faure

Sometime in my Michigan years the Juilliard Qt gave a Carter jubilee concert in art-deco Rackham Hall: all Carter string quartets in a row. It was most impressive. It's the great thing about the genre if you go and see the concerts: the most complex things are somehow transparant.

Schnittke's Fourth Qt by the Kronos: anytime.

And so on

Herman

Beethoven - middle and late quartets: Vegh Quartet and Quartetto Italiano.

Mozart - Quartetto Italiano.

Schubert - Quartetto Italiano

Ravel/Debussy - Quartetto Italiano (is there a pattern here?)

Bartok - Takacs Quartet, Hagen Quartet (if only the Hagen's recording was not so damned bright!)

Dvorak -Lindsay Quartet

Janacek - Lindsay Quartet

Shostakovich - Borodin (Melodiya) and Emerson

Ligeti - No. 1 Hagen, No. 2 LaSalle

Ross

[This message was edited by Ross Blackman on SATURDAY 02 March 2002 at 23:04.]

enjoy

ken

The greatest quartet of all, without any question, is the Shostakovich 8th. The greatest account of it is the 1985 EMI release (original Melodiya recording) by the Borodin String Quartet. They did another version of it later on which is not nearly as good, so beware. Catalogue number of the one you want is: CD 7 47507 2.

Shostakovich is directly responsible for elevating chamber music above sissy status and placing it on equal footing with symphonies. If you must restrict yourself to only 3 CDs, then they should all be of this composer's work.

Vuk.

As for "elevating" quartets to the status of symphonies, this is a ludicrous claim made from ignorance.

Incidentally, the greatest Borodin Quartet recording of the Shostakovich 8th is their 1962 recording in Decca, which is marginally better than the later Melodiya recording.

Ross

good essential first string quartets I guess would be:

Schubert: 13, 14 or 15 (Alban Berg or Italiano Qt)

Middle Beethoven: i.e. the Opus 59 quartets (pref Italiano, but I suspect they only come in a complete box, by now)

Ravel / Debussy (Italiano again)

A coupling with the Mozart, "Dissonances" Quartet (pref Amadeus Qt).

These should give you a lot of listening pleasure. I agree with Ross that Shostakovich is not the ideal starting point, esp if one looks at your tastes in general.

Herman

At the moment I'm in a Schubert phase so would start with Death and The Maiden by the Chilingirian Quartet . This Quartet was the resident one at Lancaster University so I am familiar with their playing , which may be why I prefer them on this to the more usual Italian Quartet recommendation.

Can I cheat and add a cello to the next one? On Thursday night I played the Amadeus Quartet with Robert Cohen,on DG, version of the String quintet in C , with the world in silence, this music making was just incredible, at the end it was obvious that the listening session had come to an end. There was just nothing else to play, this kind of experience makes having a decent Hi Fi worthwhile.

For a complete change, I would add the Haydn quartets ,69 and 70,on Hyperion played by the Saloman QT. , these performances are done on period instruments without the use of vibrato. If this sounds like a recipe for shrieking strings it isn't , the playing is really charged with brisk tempos and in a way its like listening to Haydn for the first time.

Finally how about the Ravel Quartet in F, again I'm going for the Chilingirian < well it's what I listen to> the slow movement of this quartet has in my view , sheer poetry about it , and the whole piece is just such a pleasure to listen to. I've just had a shout that the Italians are better on this one , I don't believe her, their probably more stodgy. Anyway if the household is stirring I'm putting a record on.

Good listening.

Paul Duerden

hold fire!!!! you are talking to an absolute ignoramus here!! all your learned arguments are going straight over my head.

i guess it was an unfair request to make. it may just not be possible to distill to a couple of "must haves".

many thanks for the various suggestions anyway...

tower records allow you to sample records before you buy them. the sound quality thru those oppresive headphones is something else!

so next time any of you are in picadilly circus tower (:D ) and you see this confused individual sitting on the listening sofa by the check-out clutching 30 cd's, please do say "hi" --it could be me...

enjoy

ken

[This message was edited by ken c on SUNDAY 03 March 2002 at 13:00.]

it's very easy. Actually Paul's idea to sneak in Schubert's famous String Quintet is excellent. You're bound to like that piece; everyone does. And I'd second the Amadeus (+ William Pleeth on 2nd cello).

I am a little puzzled by Paul's support for British ensembles (Chilingrian and Salomon); I mean they're good groups and I wouldn't hesitate going to a concert of theirs, but I wouldn't buy my first Ravel / Debussy by any of these players.

The Italiano is just a very good first recording - one of the marvels of the Italiano recordings on Philips is the sound quality. They're from the sixties and seventies and they outclass many current recordings in clarity and heft.

(Same, incidentally, applies to the Borordin's seventies recordings on Melodiya.)

Herman

thanks herm. i am not necessarily after what "everyone" likes, but as it happens, i have quite at least 10 schubert lieder (die schoner.., winterreise, etc) -- so i guess i am already well tuned to schubert's idiom? yes?

enjoy

ken

When originally faced with this duanting task I did some e-research (is this a word yet?) at amazon.com and then at the Gramophone website. (The Gramophone reviews were very enlightening - particularly their reviews of the Quartetto Italiano)

The lists you have given are an excellent starting point...are there other internet resources you can recommend to help shorten these lists?

John

Im fairly new to string quartets too. [I took a disliking to hearing them at student balls and it took a long time to realize that I had not been exposed to anything like a representative sample]

What I did to get going is buy the complete sets of Shostakovich by the Fitzwilliam on Decca and the the complete Beethoven by the Vegh Quartet. I got both for around £35 each on the internet [sorry, I can't remember which sites now]. This meant that I could explore these two composers work at my leisure. I also own most of those listed by the other guys too and I agree that there are many wonderful SQs, but I think these box sets contain enough good music to get anyone started on the genre.

Steve

Hi Ken,

The Quintet is one of those very rare works "everyone" likes, including the most exclusive chamber music lovers. After all, we're not talking "Music for the Millions" here, but the very best there is.

And, yes, it's very fascinating to listen to the Winterreise (for instance in the Hyperion series, with Mathias Goerne), to the last three Piano Sonatas, the last Great C Symphony, and then to get to know these late quartets + the String Quintet.

The same bewitching major - minor switches; the sudden silences and recommencings, this unique language Schubert invented, in totally different musical spaces, formats and styles.

You're very lucky, Ken, that these works are still virgin territory to you; there's a lot of excitement waiting to happen yet.

Herman

Just take notice of me on the Amadeus and ignore me on the Chilingirian if you like.

Paul Duerden

Of course thanks to everyone else and especially Todd for starting the thread.

i might end up doing the same thing ... next visit to tower records will be busy... i will simply print this whole thread and take it with me -- another clue in case you're there as well...

many thanks and enjoy...

ken

Can I cheat and add a cello to the next one? On Thursday night I played the Amadeus Quartet with Robert Cohen,on DG, version of the String quintet in C , with the world in silence, this music making was just incredible, at the end it was obvious that the listening session had come to an end. There was just nothing else to play, this kind of experience makes having a decent Hi Fi worthwhile.

i like that last sentence. perhaps this quintet will be a low risk start... but i know i will come out of tower with quite a few records...

this naim hifi needs serious feeding!!!

enjoy

ken

Let me recommend three CDs to start with:

Schubert - D804 and 810, Quartetto Italiano on Philips

Beethoven - op 132, Quartetto Italiano, Vegh Quartet, Lindsay Quartet or Talich Quartet (all are very good) (Because I think this is Beethoven's greatest quartet, and therefore one of the greatest works of genius in the Western musical canon, I would start here rather than the middle quartets. Maybe you should get one disc of the op 59 quartets and this one.)

Dvorak - No 12 and 13 (op 96 and 106), Lindsay Quartet on ASV (or maybe Herm's suggestion of the Debussy/Ravel Quartets - better still, stretch to four CDs (five including the two Beethoven discs) and buy both).

Ross

excellent little list of yours. In my view the Beethoven Opus 59 are better pieces to start in on, but reading your post I realized my mom gave me 130, 131 and 132 on vinyl (what else?) for my 20th birthday. What was she thinking? Three records with very old men (in my view then) on the cover: that was my entry in string quartet music.

And it worked: soon I bought a complete set of Beethoven by the Juilliard Qt, the Mozart "Haydn" Qts by the Amadeus Qt and the magnificent, never remastered, 1962 Juilliard Qt recording of the same Mozart quartets.

Oh and Ken, if you want to get Shostakovich this early in the game, by all means get the Borodin Qt on Melodiya. Those 1978 - 81 recordings are simply the best, virtually everyone agrees they're the reference, and they're dirt cheap. But, as you know, I'd recommend Schubert and Beethoven first; those are, after all, the composers Shos is referring to.

Hi Steve: why don't you give us a list of your faves, too?

Herman

[This message was edited by herm on SUNDAY 03 March 2002 at 21:12.]

many thanks guys. trouble is i am going to sound more knowledgeable that i really am when i start talking to the assistants at tower... hmmm... cant be helped...

enjoy

ken

Since all the warhorses seem to have already been mentioned, I want to recommend two "out of the way" pieces:

Karl Weigl, string quartet no 1 in c-minor (Artis quartet on Nimbus)

Weigl was a pupil of Zemlinsky and an admired composer in Vienna, but had to emigrate when the Nazis took over Austria in 1938. He died in the US, without a chance to continue his career. The first quartet is a truly original work in the late romantic tradition. I can't recommend it high enough. This is not just a concoction of ideas from other composers, as is often the case with "second rank" works - he managed to find his own way of expression! The complex writing reminds one of Schoenberg (just that this quartet predates Schoenberg's d-minor!), but Weigl invented much better tunes...

Since the old dichotomy between "serious" quartets and the "excesses" of opera again came up in this thread, I must recommend:

Verdi , string quartet in e-minor

Delightful piece, in the style of Verdi's late operas. There is an "opera" CD by the Hagen quartet, which includes this piece along with Puccini's Crisantemi and an arrangement for string quartet of Verdi's Luisa Miller... Excellent! (Recording quality could be better, though.)

good to hear from you again. WHy don't you give us some of your favorite string qt classics from a viola player's perspective? Never mind if there's overlap with previous posts.

> trouble is i am going to sound more knowledgeable than i really am when i start talking to the assistants at tower.<

Just don't get arrested, Ken.

Herman

I agree with Paul D: 'A question like "what are your favourite string quartets" is rather like an enquiry into what mood your in. The answer is going to vary with circumstance'

I have found it varies over time too. I like/adore/can't stop playing something for a couple of weeks the I try something else. I og back to the original after an indeterminate length of time.

Having said that three that I go back to more than most are: Shostakovich 10 Fitzwilliam, Beethoven Opus 130 with Grosse Fugue Vegh, and Bartok 3 Tackaks. Then there the Janacek...and musn't forget ... and....