where did the great string quartets go?

Posted by: herm on 15 December 2001

any new bands around?

Some time ago I was talking to a friend, who used to work, long time ago, as a night clerk in a hotel visited by a lot of musicians. For him the difference between the Amadeus Quartet and the Italiano Quartet was obvious. When the Italians came back after a concert they looked near dead, whereas the Amadeus looked like they were ready to have some fun yet. Still they are the great string quartets of the sixties.

The Italiano Beethoven recordings are still a reference for the middle quartets. And for Brahms. The Mozart recordings by the Amadeus are very hard to beat. And then there's another great sixties recording of the Mozart quartets, by the Juilliard, at the time when Raphael Hillyer played the viola like no one did since, and Isodore Cohen was the second violinist, before he moved to the Beaux Arts [Piano] Trio (talk about stellar sixties bands!). And then there's the old Borodin Qt, as in the Shostakovich recordings on Melodiya.

To me these are the great string quartets of the stereo era, real working bands, and I'm wondering if there are any ensembles that have fully replaced them.

Out here in Europe the Alban Berg Qt is regarded with huge respect, but I fail to see why. The sheen and the gloss has completely taken over - an ongoing process since their move to EMI, in the early eighties. But that's not music. Correct me if I'm wrong, there has to be an element of spontaneous "amateur" music making in string quartet playing, instead of the four-seat symphony orchestra sound the Berg, and the Hagen Qt are aiming for.

It's a sign there haven't been any good, juicy, fun, involving (but unimposing) recordings of Haydn quartets for ages. Haydn is the test. The Kodaly gets tedious; the Mosaiques is too monumental, and the Hagens are just trying to blow your socks off, as usual. That's not what Haydn is about.

So what's there to like? I like the Prazak Qt in Dvorak (but hate 'em in Mozart); I like the Mannheim Qt in Reger; the Vogler Qt in Schumann. Sometimes I like the Emerson Qt, but could they just for once not be so darn perfect all the time?

So these are my experiences, and I'm wondering what yours are, with string quartets in the past and string quartets today.

Bye now

Herm

Posted on: 18 December 2001 by Todd A
Take the Petersen Quartet for instance. Every disc I have with them playing is a delight. Their complete traversal of the Schulhoff works (underrated masterpieces IMO) must be heard by fans of modern music. And you want good Haydn? Try their recording of the Op 1 quartets. Fun, invigorating, creative, and they take a little license with the music (thank goodness), but it is wholly satisfying. If anyone else records a complete Haydn cycle, I hope they do. I am planning on buying their Mozart recording and maybe even that new disc o’ French music.

The Brentano Quartet is truly superb. I had the good fortune to hear them play a concert earlier this year consisting of works by Wourinen, Haydn, and Beethoven. The Haydn was a little overcooked, but the other two works were great. The audience almost gave them a standing ovation after the Presto of the Beethoven Op 131. They deserved it. I don’t know if they have any readily available recordings, but if I find some I will buy them. The Brentano are a young quartet. I hope they have a long, bright future.

The Maggini Quartet are quite good, too. They even have a Gramophone award now. So far they have specialized in British music, but they got the goods. Their Szymanowski disc on ASV is one of my favorite 20th century collections. Their Britten and Vaughn Williams are superb. They combine polish and insight. They may not be as emotive as the Brentano, but they are worth a listen. If they broaden their repertoire a little more, they will gain greater recognition and will be more formidable.

And I will mention the Emerson. True, they are one of the leading groups of the day, and true, their playing can seem a little too polished at times, but they can deliver the goods. Their Bartok and Shostakovich sets are worth every cent and numerous listens. Their playing is not to everyone’s taste, and I would not credit them with especially idiomatic playing with these giants of 20th Century music, but the sheer perfection and intensity of the playing delivers unforgettable music. Their Ives is the best there is. I’m a little leary of 18th and 19th century music played by them, but give them the right music and they deserve nothing but the highest praise.

Posted on: 20 December 2001 by herm
These are a bunch of interesting recommendations. I should have mentioned the Takacs: they're clearly on their way of becoming a major quartet, supported as they are by a major record label.

And perhaps I should get the Emerson Shostakovich. It's just that I am pathetically attached to the Melodiya set by the Borodin.

The Lindsays are a fine ensemble. Perhaps they are a band that aims to keep up the idea of spontaneous music making, even in their studio recordings. Beautiful set of instruments too.

So what I'll do is keep my eye peeled for the Petersen and the Brentano.

You wouldn't happen to be familiar with the Petersen recording of the Mozart 'Prussian' Qts, do you, Todd? Is that the Mozart record you're referring to? I looks like it's one of their first records (1992); and very few ensembles have any luck in the studio with these breathtakingly sparsely textured scores. So I'm curious.

bye now

herm

Posted on: 20 December 2001 by Todd A
For the Petersen, I was referring to the Haydn quartets set, but alas, it appears as though that has been deleted. I will be heading back to my local shop; last I checked they had it. Oh how I hope it is there. Here is a link that has their discography through November 2000. Lots of enticing options.

http://www.petersenquartett.de/discog_en.htm

Posted on: 20 December 2001 by herm
petersen

and how about the violist's mop top?

you don't see too many of those these days wink

nonetheless, I'm going to get one of these petersen records. So thanks for the tip.

Herm

Posted on: 21 December 2001 by herm
schoenberg string quartets

Obviously when we're talking about Schoenberg, hairstyles are no object. razz I just want to know whether they're naked. [cf "20 th century piano concertos"]

And you're completely right! I have these Leipziger St Qt recordings too (in fact I'm listening to one now) and they're excellent. MDG is a great place for chamber music anyhow.

Bye now

Herm

Posted on: 22 December 2001 by herm
schoenberg perfomance style

not if the musicians really let their hair down. Take Uchida.

[this is getting tedious!]

Herm

Posted on: 23 December 2001 by fred simon
If, like me, you never tire of the Ravel and Debussy quartets, I strongly recommend the Ysaÿe Quartet. Being French, they speak French music fluently and eloquently.
Posted on: 24 December 2001 by herm
Ysaye String Quartet

I have their recording of Faure's one late string quartet. There are very few ensembles who are even allowed to record this piece, as there seems to be a ban on any Faure but the Requiem in the music industry.

However, when we're talking about the usual coupling of the Debussy and Ravel string quartets, I'm kinda curious. Which is the one you tend to listen to? Usually I find myself going for the Ravel. The piece is just so right, while with the Debussy, it's more a case of beautiful pieces. Fragments rather than a story. That's my IMO. So what's yours? What do you listen to? Both?

Incidentally, my fave recording is the Italiano. My best recollection of a concert performance is by the Tokyo Qt in the late seventies. These guys have this beautiful sibling set of Amati instruments, so the sound homogeneity is exquisite, and I can still visualize the violist levitating from his seat when his big part in the third mvt came, blissed out.

Happy holidays

Herm

Posted on: 01 July 2002 by herm
Borodin and Tokyo String Quartets

The Borodin Quartet, famous for their Shostakovich cycle on Melodiya records (1979 - 1984) and numerous other recordings, have retired. Formed in 1946 (like the Amadeus and the Italiano), its founder and first violinist Rostislav Dubinsky left the USSR in 1976 for Holland, and, later, the US (Indiana). Mikhael Kopelman was the new primarius. In the late eighties they started recording for Virgin, and, later, Teldec (a very very slow 1996 Shostakovich 15 was, I suspect, their last recording together).

In 1996 Kopelman moved to fill the primarius spot in the equally famous Tokyo Quartet (formed in 1969, taught by the Juilliard Quartet, residing at Yale). This year Kopelman moved to a full time teaching position at the Eastman School.

The Tokyo Quartet, of which the violist Kazuhide Isomura is by now the only original member, has as a new, and much younger first violinist Martin Beaver per June 2002. Beaver was featured in a 1994 Under the Dome, Naim recording of Messiaen.

Of course the Tokyo is not just a name. It is also a set of matched Stradivarius instruments on permanent loan to the four members. And a great set of recordings (their 1994 Bartok is one of the best American performances of this cycle.)

Still, these long term multi-generational ensembles (the Juilliard comes to mind, and the Beaux Arts Trio) do feel a bit like empty franchises. All good quartets start from a generation's sense of how music should sound, and there's limits to how many personnel changes a quartet can take. This doesn't mean the new Tokyo won't play beautiful concerts; I just think it's a New Tokyo.

Herman
Posted on: 01 July 2002 by fred simon
quote:
Originally posted by herm:
However, when we're talking about the usual coupling of the Debussy and Ravel string quartets, I'm kinda curious. Which is the one you tend to listen to? Usually I find myself going for the Ravel. The piece is just so right, while with the Debussy, it's more a case of beautiful pieces. Fragments rather than a story. That's my IMO. So what's yours? What do you listen to? Both?


Both. I don't hear the Debussy as fragmented, it seems equally as organic and whole as the Ravel. Two masterpieces in a pod.

quote:
Incidentally, my fave recording is the Italiano.



Herm, have you heard the Ysaÿe Quartet recording? Curious to know what you think. It's my favorite.
Posted on: 01 July 2002 by herm
Hi Fred,

Took a while, didn't it, before my post registered?

Frankly I got the Ysyae for the Fauré quartet, which is a super rare piece. I've seen it performed only once. And currently the whole catalogue lists three recordings. Recently I got the Naxos recording by the (ominously named) Ad Libitum Quartet. I like that one a little better than the Ysaye; it's a little crisper in the finale, which is one of the most beautiful sacred dances Fauré wrote, and it's affecting to think it's the last piece of music he completed.

Still, the Ysyae is good too, and any ensemble recording this piece deserves gratitude and a standing ovation. (I know: I just have to mention the name Fauré on this forum and everybody runs for his life.) So how do you like the Fauré, as a piece of music?

The thing with the Debussy is simple. I love the sixties Italiano recording so much - it's so deeply inbedded in my memory - it's not much use to play another version. In the concert hall: no problem. At home, another version never lasts long.

I know it's wrong. It's just a thing those great chamber ensembles from that era seem to have - to enter a piece this way. These guys were at this repertoire for twenty years when most of these recordings were made in the early and mid sixties: the Italiano, the Amadeus, the Beaux Arts Trio, and the Juilliard Quartet with their haunting "urban" Mozart 'Haydn' quartets. Maybe that's why I started this Great String Quartet thread.

Herman
Posted on: 01 July 2002 by fred simon
quote:
Originally posted by herm:
Still, the Ysyae is good too, and any ensemble recording this piece deserves gratitude and a standing ovation. (I know: I just have to mention the name Fauré on this forum and everybody runs for his life.) So how do you like the Fauré, as a piece of music?

I would never run from Fauré, although I haven't heard his quartet. I'll have to check it out.

But you haven't said whether you've heard the Ysaÿe Ravel/Debussy quartets and what you think of them if you have?
Posted on: 03 July 2002 by DJH
For some reason I have a copy of the Petersen Quartet's recording of Boris Blacher's string quartets. This is suprisingly good, and also quite good fun! I'm not sure I would pay full price for it, but worth trying if found in a bargain bin.

The Vanbrugh Quartet needs to be mentioned in this thread. They have made several impressive recordings - Simpson, McCabe, etc., and are a quartet to watch. I haven't caught them in concert yet, unfortunately.

I have been listening to most of the Robert Simpson quartets on Hyperion over the last few days. The Delme Quartet and Coull Quartet do a pretty good job overall, but I don't think that they are in the premier league. Several of these quartets are astonishingly good, and at some point in time, Simpson deserves to be recorded by a major quartet.

I have also been dipping for the first time into Vagn Holmboe's quartets, recorded by the Kronos Quartet on dacapo. I haven't listened enough to reach firm conclusions, but initial results are very favourable.

I still think that the Lindsay Quartet's accounts of Beethoven and Bartok rank amongst the best available.
Posted on: 03 July 2002 by herm
So David,

what you're saying is, perhaps, if I want to dip my toe into Simpson string quartets, I'd best go for the recording by the Vanbrugh Quartet (14 + 15, as I recall)?

Herman
Posted on: 03 July 2002 by DJH
Herm, yes, that's the one to go for, IMHO. I have just listened to the Blacher again since writing the post above (a day off work today), and some really is very good - especially Variationen uber einen divergierenden c-moll-Dreiklang.
Posted on: 03 July 2002 by Alex S.
Another French quartet who impress me are the Via Nova - I often play my Erato Dutilleux Ainsi La Nuit and Ligeti No 1.

Alex

BTW Are the Vermeer quartet still going? They seem let down only by having Robin Cook on violin.