Got favorite STRING QUARTETS ? ?
- Thread starter Feanor
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Feanor
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Listened to several string quartets this evening ...
Alban Berg: String Quartet No. 3
Leoš Janáček: String Quartet No. 1, Kreutzer Concerto
Charles Ives: String Quartet No. 1, From the Salvation Army
György Ligeti: String Quartet No. 2
Bohuslav Martinu: String Quartet No. 7, Chamber Concerto
Alban Berg: String Quartet No. 3
Leoš Janáček: String Quartet No. 1, Kreutzer Concerto
Charles Ives: String Quartet No. 1, From the Salvation Army
György Ligeti: String Quartet No. 2
Bohuslav Martinu: String Quartet No. 7, Chamber Concerto
madfloyd
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Listened to several string quartets this evening ...
Alban Berg: String Quartet No. 3
Leoš Janáček: String Quartet No. 1, Kreutzer Concerto
Charles Ives: String Quartet No. 1, From the Salvation Army
György Ligeti: String Quartet No. 2
Bohuslav Martinu: String Quartet No. 7, Chamber Concerto
Meaningless without commentary...
Feanor
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- #64
Oh my! Dreadfully sorry, old chap.
My favorites here are the Berg, a fine modern work, and the Janáček which is obviously among the great quartets of the repertoire. (... Which I meant to include in my original post but forgot.)
The Ligeti is an almost entirely atonal work, not that that's so bad in itself but it isn't among my favorites.
The Ives, among works from that famous American compose, a bit of a bore.
The Martinu is a pleasant but not especially inspired work.
Sound quality was decent but not extraordinary among all these recordings.
madfloyd
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Much obliged!
JGlacken
Member
I would imagine a group like Phantasm on Linn Records would qualify. Especially like Orlando Gibbons,
Consorts for Viols. Good sonics.
Can't believe I sat next to one of the original founders, Wendy Gillespie, in 4th grade as second violin. She was way beyond her years even then. She just retired from Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University.
Consorts for Viols. Good sonics.
Can't believe I sat next to one of the original founders, Wendy Gillespie, in 4th grade as second violin. She was way beyond her years even then. She just retired from Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University.
Attachments
I'll take that as a recommendation: thanks.
I have only one recording that includes a quartet by Weinberg and so happens I've listened only once or twice but enjoyed it as I recall.
I hope you'll like it.
Which you will probably do if you like Shostakovich's efforts.
Mieczyslaw Weinberg aka Moishe Vainberg. As a Jew he escaped from Poland to Russia at the beginning of WWII and lost much of his family in the holocaust. He was befriended and influenced by Shostakovich. He barely survived Stalin's purge in the early 50's, attacked as a Jewish intellectual. Because of his persecution he was forced to limit his classical music composition and write movie scores.
I have a recording of Vainberg's Violin Concerto play by Kogan, and his Symphony 4 on EMI ASD2755, one of many Russian Melodyia recordings reissued by EMI in the 1970's.
Larry
Bill, thanks. You have two pictures of the Takacs Late Beethoven posted and none of the Fitzwilliam Q Shostakovich. Larry
Tonight two great quartets:
Beethoven: String Quartet in E flat, Op. 127 ~ Takacs Quarter
Shostakovitch: String Quartet No. 12 in D flat, Op. 131 ~ Fitzwilliam String Quartet
pdub
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LVB's Late Quartets -- I wouldn't mind the adagio from Op. 132 playing as I die peacefully in my bed... For a sharper take on LVB's late quartets generally check out the Orion Quartet (available on Tidal) -- they attack every single note -- very wiry and powerful . Kind of hard to listen to a "prettier" ensemble like the Tokyo String Quartet -- or, really, almost any other group -- after exposure to the Orion.
I second (third?) the referral for the Mandelring Quartet's traversal of DSCH's quartets (great in SACD). Generally speaking I love the way DSCH brings it all to a close in his last one, #15, which consists of six adagios. (I guess I like adagios.)
Speaking of finales, the 3rd movement of Britten's #2 is worth all 18 minutes just to hear them whack away furiously at the end. Bet DSCH wishes he had thought of that ...
In the category of Contemporary, Slow and Pensive, Vasks' quartets are worth exploring.
The Nightingale Quartet offers a well-recorded SACD series (also on Tidal) of Langgaard's output. Like his probably more well-known orchestral works, these are wide-ranging in style, from neo-classical to folk-inspired to modern.
I think everything I've mentioned here is on Tidal. One of the great benefits of Tidal for me has been the ability to explore beyond the usual canon. I've discovered a ton of northern European composers from the late 19th to mid-20th century who are every bit as listenable as their more famous contemporaries. A lot of it's late Romantic with some modern undertones. Wilhelm Stehhammar, Lars Erick Larsson, Joonas Kokkonen, Pohjola, Atterberg, Rangstrom, Halvorsen ... And while you've in Tidal you can find Andreae, Hindemith, Alwyn, Hetu, Godard and Gade -- also from the same periods and thematic range as those mentioned previously, also equally worth listening to as their more well-known/oft-recorded peers.
As for the warhorses, you sort of kill two birds with one stone by checking out the Guarneri Quartet's Red Seal recording of Mozart's Six Quartets Dedicated to Haydn, which includes K. 465 "Dissonent", the piece someone rec'd earlier. Swinging forward on the pendulum, DaCapo has an excellent multi-box series, Carl Nielsen Masterworks. The second box, devoted to chamber works, includes the two SACD's of the Danish String Quartet doing the four quartets. The rest of the (redbook) discs in the set are also well-worth a listen -- piano sonatas, some interesting wind chamber works, etc. For that matter, Dacapo's recent Nielsen symphony series with the NY Philharmonic is also first rate. Last I checked all this was on Tidal as well.
Parker
I second (third?) the referral for the Mandelring Quartet's traversal of DSCH's quartets (great in SACD). Generally speaking I love the way DSCH brings it all to a close in his last one, #15, which consists of six adagios. (I guess I like adagios.)
Speaking of finales, the 3rd movement of Britten's #2 is worth all 18 minutes just to hear them whack away furiously at the end. Bet DSCH wishes he had thought of that ...
In the category of Contemporary, Slow and Pensive, Vasks' quartets are worth exploring.
The Nightingale Quartet offers a well-recorded SACD series (also on Tidal) of Langgaard's output. Like his probably more well-known orchestral works, these are wide-ranging in style, from neo-classical to folk-inspired to modern.
I think everything I've mentioned here is on Tidal. One of the great benefits of Tidal for me has been the ability to explore beyond the usual canon. I've discovered a ton of northern European composers from the late 19th to mid-20th century who are every bit as listenable as their more famous contemporaries. A lot of it's late Romantic with some modern undertones. Wilhelm Stehhammar, Lars Erick Larsson, Joonas Kokkonen, Pohjola, Atterberg, Rangstrom, Halvorsen ... And while you've in Tidal you can find Andreae, Hindemith, Alwyn, Hetu, Godard and Gade -- also from the same periods and thematic range as those mentioned previously, also equally worth listening to as their more well-known/oft-recorded peers.
As for the warhorses, you sort of kill two birds with one stone by checking out the Guarneri Quartet's Red Seal recording of Mozart's Six Quartets Dedicated to Haydn, which includes K. 465 "Dissonent", the piece someone rec'd earlier. Swinging forward on the pendulum, DaCapo has an excellent multi-box series, Carl Nielsen Masterworks. The second box, devoted to chamber works, includes the two SACD's of the Danish String Quartet doing the four quartets. The rest of the (redbook) discs in the set are also well-worth a listen -- piano sonatas, some interesting wind chamber works, etc. For that matter, Dacapo's recent Nielsen symphony series with the NY Philharmonic is also first rate. Last I checked all this was on Tidal as well.
Parker
pdub
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Hope you find something you like, Bill.
As for that box of Weinberg quartets Bart mentioned, I have it too. Not to knock Weinberg, whose concertos I love (particularly on Chandos), every time I start into his quartets I find myself thinking I'd rather be listening to Shostakovich. Probably just need to be more patient with the Weinberg ...
As for that box of Weinberg quartets Bart mentioned, I have it too. Not to knock Weinberg, whose concertos I love (particularly on Chandos), every time I start into his quartets I find myself thinking I'd rather be listening to Shostakovich. Probably just need to be more patient with the Weinberg ...
