Yeah, good point. I paid a bit more for my copies. Although I’d rather pay an extra dollar or two for them to wrap it in outer sleeve and sticker that instead.
I think that the Mozart String Quintets are extraordinary music, even by Mozart’s own high standards. Some of the greatest music ever written.
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They stand up to the Mozart String Quartets in any case. 
I am listening to those quintets now.
While we’re on Mozart, this never damaged anyone’s ears that I’m aware of…
I have a later reissue of this that was crusty, so to speak. About a year or so ago I found this minty copy from the early 70s. It’s the complete piano sonatas on 7-LPs, in one of the nice linen boxes DG/DGG used a lot in the 60s.
Particularly the G minor. Recall hearing this at a concert in the old Free Trade Hall in Manchester played by the Amadeus plus A.N. Other. They’re not my favourite quartet, but it was still a sublime experience.
Roger
KV515 and KV516 must be amongst the most profound - and profoundly beautiful - music ever written. Even by Mozart’s exalted standards. They may just be my favourite music ever written by Mozart, particularly in the utterly brilliant Philips recordings by the augmented Grumiaux Trio.
I must look out the HC Robbins Landon book ‘1791, His Final Year’, which reduced me to tears when I first read it years ago. An absolutely brilliant book for anyone who wants to know more about the genius that was Mozart.
PS Copy of the book found on Amazon, and ordered. Isn’t technology wonderful when it works so efficiently!
PPS Cecil Aaronowitz often helped out as an auxiliary player with the Amadeus Quartet, so he may be the name you’re searching for.
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All this Mozart talk has me reaching for more. I have this complete 9-LP set of the quartets by the Quartetto Italiano on Phillips. Mine is a Swiss copy, but the discs are pressed in Holland. I also have a box set of the “Great” Quartets by the Alban Berg Quartet on Telefunken. That’s one of the first classical box sets I ever bought, nearly 50 years ago.
Anyway, the Quartetto Italiano performances are world class, as you would expect from this ensemble. I also have their complete 10-LP set of Beethoven Quartets. Also a great performance.
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The Quartetto Italiano (as they styled themselves) were utterly brilliant musicians, who had the great good fortune to record for Philips, who recorded them in beautiful, warm (but clear) analogue sound. I had the great good fortune to be able to buy a brand new 10LP set of their Beethoven a couple of weeks ago to replace the LP set that I bought a very long time ago, maybe even when I was (supposed to be) studying at Oxford…
I also managed to buy the same Beethoven pieces in the Amadeus Quartet’s DGG recordings of roughly similar vintage.
It will be utterly fascinating to compare and contrast these two sets. The Amadeus were always the ‘popular choice’ back in the day, but I think that the Italiano were the connoisseur’s pick.
I could be stuck in my music room for weeks with this! I’m also fascinated to hear the comparative sound of each Quartet captured by their respective engineers.
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I have the Amadeus Beethoven Op. 59 Quartets on a DG Classics reissue, but have always wnated the complete box set. Maybe I need to renew my search again.
Otherwise, I have the Quatuor Végh set in three boxes on the long defunct Valois record label. They are good, but I like the Quartetto Italiano better.
Hello, JDP. As noted above, I managed to buy a complete Amadeus Quartet Beethoven set a couple of weeks ago, so it is still possible to find them,.
I have always wanted to buy the Vegh’s Beethoven on LPs, but have never been able to track down a set.
I just ordered a U.S. released copy (2720 110 ) for $45 shipped from a seller on discogs. 
That’s a DGG catalogue number, so that must be the Amadeus box, right?
(I have a copy of that set sitting - unplayed yet - next to me.)
Correct, that’s the one I don’t have.
The only set I have even seen anywhere is the one I have, and I bought it new when I was a record buyer for a Linn/Naim dealer in the mid 80s. Records on the Valois label are hard to find.
Yes, that’s very clear to me - after years of trying to find the r*ddy things!
You would think that constant scanning of Amazon sites over several years in the UK, the US, Germany and Japan would throw up a set, but no joy!
Allow me to rub it in, just a little bit.
Valois was a small French label, and they didn’t produce large numbers of pressings. In the U.S. there was a small distributor – AudioSource in California – that brought them in from France, and I was one of their dealers who recognized what they had. I have a lot of Baroque music from that label, including some wonderful guitar, lute, and viol music. Jordi Savall was associated with the label before he started his own. It might have even been his label. IDK. All lovely stuff in any case.
As I recall they also imported the STIL label. I have an equally, or even more so, rare copy of Scott Ross playing Rameau’s complete works for keyboard. Scott Ross was a protoge of Kennth Gilbert, and for these works I think he surpassed his mentor. If you like harpsichord music, it really doesn’t get much better than this.
A wonderful book on WAM was publish few years back, I am afraid it is not available in English:
The title is “Mozart has never lived” - it deals with the sheer aount of music he wrote in his short life, the unclear circumstances of his death and so on. Basically he makes a point of how little we really know about that genius. To give you a taste I translated the table of content:
Mozart has never lived …
A corpse disappears - and no worries
Not a motive - but several murderers?
A natural death - is it?
The widow cleans up - and clears up
Three highlights - one single descent
With so much debt - a poor man?
Mozart remains - the success emigrates
Who was the Salzburger Lump?
For marriage - break with the father?
The mother dies - for another solution
A child wins - and loses his childhood?
Mozart was not a genius - but a medium
Trust you’d enjoy it.
I actually speak German (‘Ich kann Deutsch’), so I could read the book. Will I find it on Amazon, or do I need to look elsewhere?
Thanks. I managed to find a copy on the German Amazon site, which I have ordered, and I expect its arrival next Monday.
Thanks for the tip.
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