If you are having to compare the Vegh, the Amadeus and the Italian Quartets, you must be in a happy place.
All wonderful quartets, each having a slightly different claim to greatness.
The Italians probably just shade it, in my estimation. They can’t be bettered technically, and they had the great good fortune to record for Philips, who produced wonderful records. (I have a new, unplayed set of their Beethoven, which I had the great good fortune to pick up not long ago…)
I wonder if I shall ever find the Vegh’s Beethoven on LPs. Somewhere in the world there’s an unplayed set with my name on it. I just need to find it.
There are some very fine string quartet players around these days. I bought recently a CD box of the Belcea Quartet playing Beethoven, which I am looking forward to playing once my CDS II is fixed.
Beethoven’s String Quartets: are you comparing only the Italiano (great, imo) and Amadeus (so-so, again imo)? Yes, also Vegh. What about the Takács, Alban Berg, Tokyo, Guarneri, Fine Arts, Emerson, Belcea, etc. Not to mention the early recordings of Busch, Budapest, etc., which would not suit everyone because of the recording quality?
Of those that you mention, I have the early Telefunken (if my memory is correct) and later EMI recordings by the Alban Berg Quartett and the Belcea Quartet on CD.
I also have the Busch Quartet not-quite-complete set (EMI?).
But no others - apart from Lennie Bernstein’s orchestratioms of Opp 131 and 135 (on a Deutsche Gramophone LP) with the Vienna Philharmonic strings, which are truly spectacular.
My approach is that the more different versions, the better. Switching to a streaming service has happily obviated the need to search for and choose the “best” version due to the impossibility of purchasing every interesting ones. Things are different now.
Personally, I have a weakness for some archival recordings. Apart from the exceptional Bush Quartet recordings, these are, for example, the surviving Quatuor Capet recordings. The sound is far from conventional, but what incredible interpretations!
Are you all aware of DG Classics new “The Original Source” series. These will be full AAA reissues of classic releases. They are going back to the original 4-track tapes for mastering at EMS (the original releases were mastered from 2-track copies of the recording tapes).
Looks like DG is hopping on the very successful Tone Poet bandwagon…
Marking their 125th anniversary in 2023, Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft are launching a very special new audiophile series on vinyl.
THE ORIGINAL SOURCE is a new series of celebrated albums reissued on vinyl. The renowned Berlin-based Emil Berliner Studios are remastering 4-track recordings from the 1970s, using their own cutting-edge and 100% pure analogue techniques (AAA) to create versions of the highest possible audio quality. Compared to the original releases, the advantages in sound are outstanding: More clarity, more details and a better frequency response, less noise, less distortion, less compression – the highest possible audiophile quality which gives listeners the chance to enjoy this repertoire like never before.
Produced on 180g virgin vinyl by Optimal, these limited and numbered releases will be issued in deluxe gatefold editions featuring the original artwork and liner notes, with additional photos and facsimiles of the recording documentation on the inner sleeve. Furthermore, each release includes a note by Rainer Maillard/EBS detailing the technical background and procedure of the Original Source Series, and an additional insert with a photo of the original tape box. Each LP comes in a protective cellophane jacket with a sticker highlighting the USPs of the series:
Pure analogue mixed & cut from the original four-track ½-inch master tapes (instead of the ¼-inch stereo copies)
Mixed by Rainer Maillard & cut by Sidney C. Meyer directly from original analogue source at Emil Berliner Studios
Manufactured at optimal media on 180-gram virgin vinyl
Original Source Series = no copy used, no extra devices in the signal pass, no digital sound processing at all; more clarity, more detail, and far less noise; Pure analogue
An initial selection of 14 albums will be released over the course of 2023, starting with four releases on 2 June 2023:
I hardly dare look, as I have - and shall now have to buy again - the first four titles listed there. If the rest are of the same calibre, this could be an expensive little jaunt for me (and other record lovers, no doubt).
Is there a list anywhere of other titles in the release schedule?
If it’s the quality of the Tone Poets series then it will be very special. The mastering engineer at EBS – Sidney Meyer – apprenticed with Kevin Gray @ Cohearant. He is the mastering engineer for all the Tone Poets and the Blue Note Classics reissues series, among many other great reissues from various labels, so I’ll bet she learned some great lessons.
My biggest concern is the DG series is pressed at Optimal, and they have been a real s&*t-show in recent years of likely pressing defects, especially non-fill. If I’m getting 5 LPs in the first batch of releases it won’t surprise me if at least one or two discs have non-fill and have to be exchanged or returned.
The other titles staled for 2023 release are as follows. I’m especially interested in the Brahms piano concerti. I have not seen a list of anything else otherwise.
BRAHMS: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Emil Gilels · Berliner Philharmoniker/Eugen Jochum
MOZART: Piano Concertos Nos. 25 & 27 Friedrich Gulda · Wiener Philharmoniker/Claudio Abbado
VERDI: Messa da Requiem Berliner Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan
I never expected to be wowed by Mozart’s early Mitridate but this is a spectacular recording, wonderful springy conducting that reminded me on occasion of Marriner’s best days and amazing singing. On this evidence I’d almost go so far as to prefer this work to Tito!
Beautiful transparent recording, the only gift of the pandemic period (live performances were cancelled and in more than one occasion, studios took advantage of the opportunity to record fully rehearsed opera performances under studio conditions)
Pollini’s had three shots at Brahms’ first concerto, but for some reason none of them are particularly inspiring; if I had to choose, I would give the nod to Thielemann, which finds Pollini in fine late form, doing more with diminished resources. I am a great admirer of his art, but in this work prefer Ashkenazy, Kovacevich or Zimerman, amongst others. Recently, the recordings by Lars Vogt and Andras Schiff are different but very much worth hearing.
Amazingly, I have next to nothing of Brahms piano concertos in my collection. I have Nos. 1 and 2 by Arrau/Haitink/Concertgebouw, as part of the multi-box set “Arrau Edition” Philips did to celebrate Arrau’s 80th (I have every one of them, and the Liszt box is great, among other things).
Otherwise I have a reissue of Brahms No. 1 by Curzon/Szell/LSO on Decca.
I just took a look at the DG online shop and these releases are not outrageously priced.
Single album versions (Stravinsky, Beethoven, Schubert are all 47€ and the Mahler is 64€ as it’s a Double album.
I can see me investing in several of these😊
The problem for us in the U.S. is that shipping is substantial, about 38€. I ordered all four LPs and my total is over 240€. That’s about as expensive per disc as reissues get here (nothwithstanding MoFi One-Step and AP UHQR).
I have sent an email to Elusive Disc to ask if they plan to carry them. I’m not counting on Amazon since these seem to be limited worldwide to 2000 copies.
