Perhaps that will provide an excuse for BBC2 (or some other TV channel with cultural pretensions) to reshow the famous film of Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet with the very young Barenboim, Zukerman, Perlman, DuPre and Mehta (I hope I’ve remembered the right names) made by Christopher Nupen.
@anon70766008 - Scroll up in this thread to post 28. You’ll find the complete film (courtesy YouTube) there 
Thanks for the Grumiaux suggestion Graham, on the playlist for this afternoon 
Was that the Sonatas and Partitas?
String Quarters & Quintets
…& very lovely they were too.
Thank you for the steer🙂
Well, I’m so pleased that you enjoyed them. I don’t think that Arthur Grumiaux’s posthumous reputation has held up as well as his artistry deserves. In his day his recordings of the Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms Concertos were regarded as the very best, and he was helped by Philips consistently producing lovely clear recordings.
If you’re feeling adventurous, try going back a century or so with Grumiaux’s records of the Bach Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas, staggeringly accomplished playing of music that is fiendishly difficult to play, but wonderful to listen to, if the player has the chops.
As I’ve said elsewhere, I always like to have a couple of recordings of my favourite music, which stops me thinking that any particular LP of a work is ‘definitive’. So, if you can find Grumiaux’s recording of the Bach, try to see if you can find the set on DGG made - very late in his life - by Nathan Milstein. DGG rereleased this as a 3LP ‘limited edition’ of 5.000 sets a couple of years ago, so you may be able to find a copy lying around.
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I found it in hi-res on Qobuz.
[Beethoven: String Quartet No.14 In C Sharp Minor, Op.131 (Live) - Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra](https://play.qobuz dot com/album/v6j8u18vx02ka)
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It is well worth hearing, and having alongside the rather wonderful set of Beethoven Symphonies that Bernstein recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic. Add Carlos Kleiber’s definitive Vienna accounts of the Fifth and Seventh, and you’re well on the way to having recordings that you need never replace.
Although the Berlin Philharmonic recordings rhat Kleiber’s chum Claudio Abbado made of the Symphonies (also DGG) are very special - they sound almost like a giant string quartet, so clear is the sound.
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Interestingly, Abbado recorded the Beethoven cycle 1.89 times with the BPO within several years. He was dissatisfied with his first cycle, so he recorded them again in live performance, keeping only the 9th from the first set.
I have both cycles and enjoy them, but my favorite Beethoven cycles are older - Bruno Walter, George Szell, and Otto Klemperer.
And the Carlos Kleiber 5th and 7th is a must have.
Thank you for that.
I have a vague recollection that the ‘second’ set that Abbado made were based around live recordings made in concerts at The Vatican. Can that possibly be right?
What I remember reading was that Abbado was very happy with the (studio) recordings that he had made with the Berliners, but that he found an extra depth when he conducted them as a cycle in public concerts (at The Vatican, I think) and that his standing with DGG was such that he was able to persuade them to issue the new ‘live’ set, and delete the expensively-recorded studio set from a couple of years earlier.
And, for whatever reason, the ‘newer’ set contained the existing recording of the Ninth, because Abbado did not think that he could better his solo quartet of singers in the last movement.
What makes these (almost) two cycles of the Beethoven symphonies even more remarkable is that Abbado had made a very highly regarded set with the Vienna Philharmonic (also for DGG) a few years before.
Not even Karajan was able to do that!
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Yes, indeed, though I seem to recall that in some quarters the Vienna cycle wasn’t so enthusiastically received as his later ones. The Abbado Beethoven set he made in Vienna was much more “traditional” whereas his two later cycles with the BPO took more account of period performance practice.
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Yes, I think a smaller orchestra overall, and am I right in thinking that they used a new Edition of the scores?
Fantastic music making, which is the main thing.
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I have the first of those sets on DVD-A. I’m not sure how many other titles DG issued in that format. For me, those five discs constitute the bulk of my DVD-A classical collection.
Still hoping some day to have a place where I can set up a surround system.
Edit - I almost forgot I have the second (live) cycle on Blu-Ray video!
Long ago, I became so accustomed to Karajan’s 80s Beethoven cycle that I find it difficult to enjoy anything else, even when my objective mind can hear that it’s better. I’m well aware that both the SQ and performances on the 80s set have come in for some stick over the years, but when it’s what you’re used to, it makes it hard to listen to anything else.
I think @anon70766008 recently recommended buying two versions of a new piece so as to avoid this problem. I very much wish I’d had that advice (and the money to follow it!) in the 80s.
Mark
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Ah, imprint recordings. My choice for the most beautiful piece of music ever written is the Schubert string quintet, but my imprint version was the eccentric Heifetz/Piatigorsky recording. The piece can survive almost anything, but I needed to find the Alban Berg Quartet/Schiff and Casals/Stern 1952 recording to fully appreciate its wonder.
They are still hard to beat. Especially his Mozart recordings (concertos as well as chamber pieces) .
Grumiaux was a wonderful violinist.
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The version of which you speak is also my favourite.
I have heard others and can appreciate that they are better in many ways for the recording, but it’s the delivery with the Karajan version that I love so much.
I do have 2 other versions and never play them🤷🏻♂️
One movement I find no other conductor can match is the Finale of Beethoven 7. In Karajan’s 80s recording, its white-hot intensity grabs me by the throat and the horn interjections never sound as good to me on any other recording.
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Sounds to me that you need to hear Carlos Kleiber’s account with the VPO - the very apotheosis of the dance!
(Quote from Richard Wagner, apparently.)
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Indeed - one of the few things Wagner said that I can happily agree with!
(Whilst I will try your recommendation, of course, I should manage your expectations by saying that my imprint recording (great phrase, @jegreenwood!) has probably already done irreparable damage to me, but I will continue to experiment)
Mark