Thank you @BertBird, @EJS and @Chris-G for your comments and recommendations. Half the fun with classical music is listening to various interpretations and discovering what they found in the partition.
I’ll try and hear the Festetics, so far ABQ and the London Haydn Quartets are my favourite for Haydn
Claude
Didn’t the Alban Berg end their recording career with the op 76 quartets?
Can’t tell for sure, but I did buy this LP in or about 1982 (I was 21 or so) and it is a jewel in my collection:
I love the “Emperor” so much that when I got married 5 years ago I hired a string quartet and asked them to play it in full, they did a very good performance
Claude
I agree. This record is a gem. I have it as well, and all the other analog records Alban Berg released on Telefunken. They are all great.
If you think you know Beethoven’s 5th, try this! A radical rethink on the symphony - incredible playing, tonal colours, much use of dynamic range, with quieter passages truly memorable. When listening last night, I wished I’d had a score so I could see how much of what is played is in the score. Well worth a listen, but I have to say it’s not good value for money when a recording plays for about half an hour, with no other music included. Currentzis uses the excuse that the 5th stands on its own, which is true to an extent, but then this brings into question the pricing for works, eg should a recording be priced according to the quality of the work, length of time it plays, or the quality of the performance? … Perhaps I’m opening up a can of worms here!
I will wait for it’s price to go down in the usual end of year discount rounds…, now just for one Symphony it’s too much…
Difficult one. I like performances which ‘undust’ the regular interpretations - for that reason I’m a fan of Ton Koopman, but on the other hand I have a feeling that the demon which once posessed Kleiber has found a new host (this can be seen as a compliment). Not made up my mind yet.
I prefer this interpretation of the 5th:
Re: the Chiaroscuro’s Haydn Op. 76 quartets, that is officially released now and I’m having a great time on my first playthrough - excellent performances. Need to dig up their Op. 20 discs!
Cheers
EJ
I know what you mean about Kleiber, but what a wonderful conductor. He was unable to withstand the pressure of his own high standards, and took very hard any criticism levelled at him. His famous LSO Beethoven 7 in London was panned by some critics, as a result he never again appeared in the UK. Other critics and the audience raved about that concert. So many recordings we should have had from Kleiber, particularly a complete Beethoven symphonies cycle, but it was never to be. Tragic.
Indeed. By coincidence I was listening to his Beethoven 7 a few days ago, what a performance
Claude
The mono version from Gulda, very enjoyable performances and right not even 15 Euros with Qobuz Sublime
You can buy and download them on the Hyperion site
First spin of the Ebene’s Beethoven set, look forward to finding out if they continue the excellent impression from the first disc in the series with op.59/1&2.
Today also saw completion of the Casals’ cycle, recorded in the studio - good times for string quartet afficionados!
Cheers
EJ
Hi EJS, by coincidence, just downloading the Quatuor Ebene set. Looking forward to sampling it. You can’t have too many Beethoven quartet cycles.
