Schubert string quintet

Isn't it gorgeous music? At some later point you might want to check out Schubert's Octet, too.

The 1966 recording by the Amadeus Quartet augmented by William Pleeth is one of the all-time best. There's a more recent recording by the Amadeus, but this one's better. And it's cheap.

On no account do things like the Emerson with Rostrovich or the Alban Berg. They're plastic, man.

Herman

Ross and Herman both make some good recommendations.

However, Herman's comments about the Emerson, in particular, are misguided and just plain wrong.

Opinion seems to be divided

quote:

---

Originally posted by stephenjohn:
Opinion seems to be divided

---

Not at all.

Takacs and Amadeus are two excellent recordings - sixties and nineties.

Just listen to the first three minutes of both and make your choice. Or get both.

Herman (gettin' ready to post # 1812 real soon)

You want it, Ross? You got it!

With a bing, with a bang, with a boom.

(It does seem a little inappropiate, though, in a thread supposedly about the Schubert String Quintet.)

Herman

JarrettH I think the recording that you have recommended if for the piano qintet. Thanks anyway

Herm. Can you explain what you mean by plastic? I see that outside this forum there are a lot of people that rate the Alban Berg highly

I havae the Takacs playing Bartok and it's stunning. I have found only at amazon in Germany with a long delivery time. I'm temted by this.

quote:

---

Originally posted by stephenjohn:
Can you explain what you mean by plastic? I see that outside this forum there are a lot of people that rate the Alban Berg highly

---

The Alban Berg and the Emerson are (IMHO) very much into absolute note-perfect technical perfection. In terms of reliability, refinement and (major plus) interesting contemporary repertory they are the top string quartets of Europe and the USA, respectively. However, expressiveness does get lost, perhaps in the same way that Mark Levinson delivers perfect hifi but not the most exciting music. Especially in Vienna soul music like Schubert's I feel a more fun type approach like the Amadeus's is better suited.

This doesn't mean I don't have ABQ or Emerson records. In fact I rather like their Schubert G major quartet: it is too loud, but the finale is a hoot. Their early eighties Beethoven 130 is very good. Emerson I'm really mixed about. I have their Shostakovich cycle, and as I've noted in some other thread, it pales beside the Borodin Quartet 1978-82 recordings.

Herman

Thanks Herm

I've ordered the Amadeus + Pleeth and bought the ABQ. Both for less than the full price of one CD. I still might buy the Takacs, depending on what the Amadeus sounds like.

Thanks to all.

Yes gorgeous music - I first got to know this work through the Stern, Casals, Tortelier etc.. recording. I've yet to find another recording that I can live with. Maybe I've just been unlucky - I've at least tried the Lindsays, ABQ, Hollywood and Cleveland. All seem to lack the musical flow of the this performance I had a particular dislike for the Lindsays who overemphasize the drama of certain passages. Anyone feel like giving a few more words on the relative merits of Amadeus and Takacs?

David

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ross Blackman:
The Amadeus have that whole echt-Viennese Sachertorte gemütlichkeit thing working for them, which is very effective in Haydn and Mozart and, to a lesser extent in Schubert, giving the music a kind of charm, and I can certainly understand why Herman has a nostalgic fondness for the Amadeus recordings from the 60s.

---

That's an interesting idea, 'nostalgic fondness'. In the future, whenever I like a different recording I'll just say you only like brand X because of nostalgic fondness.

My guess would be I am just like a couple of other guys here who actually keep looking for other recordings of favorite works, since it is not that exciting to put that same old recording in the spinner decade after decade. Sometimes however those other recordings fade away after a while, and you're back to same old. Not because you want to go back in time, but because the performance just happens to be that felicitous. The Amadeus being one of the three top string quartets of the post-war generation (together with the Italiano and the sixties Juilliard) has recorded quite a bunch of these great performances. (In classical piano trio literature try beating the Beaux Trio, is another example.) The Amadeus are still my first choice when it comes to the Mozart 'Haydn' quartets, and man, have I tried. Mind you I'm not an unconditional fan; in the seventies the primarius' vibrato gets a little lazy, but in the fifties and sixties they were simply one of the very very best string quartets that ever existed. So I don't think I need any excuses to like their Schubert, and I'm real curious how the Tacaks and the Amadeus compare for StephenJohn.

BTW, a friend and colleague of mine (who's a little older) used to be a night clerk in a hotel in the early seventies, which was the Amsterdam base for a lot of musician visitors and he told me the Amadeus always returned from their concerts like they just had a jolly night, while the Italiano looked like they'd been working in a coal mine, totally drained after a concert.

Herman

I am enjoying the Amadeus at the moment. The Tacaks has yet to arrive. The ABQ was/is plastic.

I have the 1980s DG recording by the Amadeus quartet.I also have the Tacaks recording.Have yet to make my mind up which I prefer.The recording on the Tacaks is mellower,but I think I prefer the drive and rhythmic quality of the Amadeus qurtet,despite the characteristic thinness and treble hardness of the DG recording.Still both great records and the music is sublime

Simon

quote:

---

Originally posted by stephenjohn:
The ABQ was/is plastic.

---

Teehee!

Please tell us how you like the Takacs, when you get it.

Herman

quote:

---

The Takacs performance style is also different from the Amadeus, a little more ascerbic, more accented and rythmically varied (if that makes any sense); while the Amadeus have a smooth, singing line. I like the Amadeus performances, but their sweet sound and dry recording would not make them a first choice for me, and for someone coming anew to the work, I think the Takacs is a better performance.

---

quote:

---

The recording on the Tacaks is mellower,but I think I prefer the drive and rhythmic quality of the Amadeus qurtet,despite the characteristic thinness and treble hardness of the DG recording

---

Does this suggest that the 1960s Amadeus and tha 1980s Amadeus are very different and the Tacaks lies between them?

I'll have a listen to the Tacaks over the weekend,on-call duties permitting.The DG recording was 1986 and I think the last that the Amadeus quartet recorded.It is a digital recording and suffers from quite a bit of sibilance,but is still an enthralling rendition of the work.

Simon

Hi
I ordered the Takacs from Amazon in Germany three weeks ago and they've just emailed me to say it may be another 2 to 4 weeks [which in my experience has meant that they can't get it]. I've looked on a number of other sites and can't find it elsewhere. Has anyone got any ideas?
Stephenjohn