Great String quartets
Your favorite string quartet?
Alive, dead or retired....
????
Replies (76)
A student of mine gave me a CD set of the Guarneri Quartet in the late Mozart quartets.
Great stuff!
Joplin-Entertainer performed by Duet Artmix
The Mischa Elman Quartet
Borodin (the musicians, though the two works are wonderful, too)
The group or the music?
Paul ask for groups. Mines are:
First Borodin
Beehoven
Taneyev
Krasni
Koeckert
Hollywood
First Melos
First Tokyo
Smetana
Janacek
Old Budapest (before 1950)
Schneider
Primrose
Old Pro-Arte
Wienn Konzerthauss
I would add to your list of earlier groups:
Busch SQ
Fine Arts SQ
Vegh SQ
Griller SQ
Weller SQ
Love Quartetto Italiano, too, and Takacs, and Cleveland, and Miro, and the usual favorites.
In no particular order:
Guarneri
Juilliard
La Salle
Tokyo
ABQ
Amadeus
Budapest
what about the Capet or the Vermeer?
Anybody's heard them?
Also, why are those your favorite?
Gennady, your insight would be welcome.
Paul - Do you mind adding quartet pieces to the discussion as well? I would love to learn quartet literature better.
Ihnsouk
oops. misunderstood question.
anyone mention Emerson? is that too obvious?
also, Takacs, American, Shanghai, Tokyo (w. Peter Oundjian), and Belcea quartets
So many and such individual sounds...
Where to begin? I didn't get the Juilliards for ages, but one day I had an epiphany with either op.59#2 or op.131 - it bowled me over. The Emersons - such technique, clarity. ABQ - Schubert. The warmth of Cleveland...
Some lesser-known but goodies: the Concord quartet, particularly for Black Angels; Cherubini - brilliant phrasing (Schumann incl. piano quintet). And the quartet that taught me to love quartet playing - the Lafayettes in Victoria, who are celebrating 20 years together this season.
As for favorite repertoire - Beethoven op. 135 (if I had to pick one), Mozart D minor, Ravel, Brahms (all three - but A minor edges the others out today), Bartok 3 - the list goes on and on...
there are a lot of young quartets now too. pacifica and jerusalem, to name two fresh and talented ensembles. each has an amazing list of really nice recordings already...
It depends on the rep, but my all-time favorites are: Borodin, Budapest, Emerson, Guarneri, and Takacs. Also Kronos and Arditti for contemporary music. And I've heard wonderful live performances by the St Lawrence, Endellion, Shanghai, and Brentano quartets. Have people mentioned Orion and Hagen?
Ihnsouk, my recommendations for a beginning quartet listener are:
Mozart: 6 quartets dedicated to Haydn
Beethoven: all of them really, but start with the middle quartets
Schubert "Death and the Maiden"
Dvorak "American"
Ravel
Debussy
Bartok #4
Shostakovich #8
That's pretty much a "greatest hits" list. My favorite Shosty is actually #13, and my favorite Schubert is D887, despite its length. All the Bartoks are really great. The Brahms quartets are very thickly written, but they're fantastic music if you hear a good performance. If you have a few minutes to spare the Webern quartet works are really amazing, as are Kurtag's. George Crumb's "Black Angels" is a great piece.
If you're a Bach fan the Emerson recording of "The Art of Fugue" is very fine.
And for many people, the greatest works of them all are the late quartets of Beethoven. But if I get started writing about them, I won't stop, so I'll leave it at that. :)
Have to go with the Borodin and Alban Berg SQs.
Takacs SQ easily.
TAKÁCS!!!!!!!!
And yet more:
Contemporary - the Artaria SQ (disclaimer - I study with their 2nd violinist), always exciting and well-prepared performances, adventuresome repertoire, and they run a competition for high school string quartets (final this year is 4/27).
From the Decades Past - Kroll Quartet (William Kroll was the first violinist), heard many wonderful performances from the original Fine Arts Quartet. Probably few have heard (or heard of) the Brazilian Quartet, but I heard a lovely concert from them once.
I adore the guarneri quartet, particularly for their old recording of Beethoven op 132 (and the rest of the late sqts.) The profound emotions conveyed in the third movement are overwhelming.
Peter - Thank you for the wonderful list. I went out and got the art of fugue and ordered a few others. Looking forward to listening to Bach before going to bed. Thank you.
Ihnsouk
My favorites are the Takacs String Quartet and the Tokyo String Quartet.
st lawrence- any haydn they play live is just mind boggling.
So many great groups...I'd have to go with Borodin and Takacs for now.
As for pieces, Prokofieff #2 is so good...nobody's mentioned that yet. What about Shostakovich 3? There's too much great stuff. We're so lucky we don't have to play brass quintets.
Also...has anyone heard the Raphael ensemble? They're not a string quartet...a sextet, but I have a recording of their Souvenir de Florence and it is by far my favorite.
Among the great younger quartets:
Miro SQ
Cypress SQ
It's hard to say since I've only heard a few great quartets live, but I have heard many recordings from just about all of them. The best performance I've ever heard, live or recorded, was a live performance by the Brentano SQ. Their performance of Beethoven's op. 132 was truly sublime, and I hope that some day I will hear a performance that makes me feel that strongly again.
Maybe we should differentiate between best live performance and favorite recording, as it is hard to beat a great live performance with a recorded one.
Sharon -
Good point about the St. Lawrence! They take so many risks - it's fantastic. Have you heard them with Scott yet?
My favorites are:
Julliard
Budapest
Tokyo
Guarneri
I used to attend the concerts by the Julliard Quartet at the Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress. That was when Robert Mann was first violinist and Earl Carlyss was second violinist. They were absolutely wonderful!!
Hi,
Too many great groups to mention them all. I guess I like different quartets for different repertoire but to single out anyone makes me feel that I would neglect many others.
I get to hear the Tokyo Quartet as they come to Ottawa next week. Should be great. I have to say that their recent release of the Beethoven op. 59 is just spectacular. They are in the process of doing the op. 18, I think, and I am looking forward to that very much as well.
Cheers!
Chris,
I have to second your opinion about Tokyo's recording of the "Razumovsky" quartets. It is spectacular! Those are some of my very favorite quartets!
There was a set of recordings of the Beethoven Quartets I heard years and years ago by (if I remember correctly) a French string quartet that was outstanding. Their way of playing was just different from everyone else, and especially in a movement like the slow movement of #9, it was just simply haunting. However, for the life of me, I can't remember the name of the group, and none of the ones mentioned so far look familiar. If anyone can respond to this, I'd love to hear about it. I think I'd recognize the name if I saw it. Sorry for presenting such an ambiguous puzzle.
Sandy
Takacs, but this could be due to the fact that I have a lot of their recordings. Have seen too few live SQ performances to base it on that, sadly, b/c live music really tells you about the group's interpretation and skill, doesn't it?
Love the Guarneris for the same reason - Arnold Steinhardt's book Indivisible By Four gave me an intimate glimpse of their years together, as did the film documentary of them (name eludes me - High Fidelity, maybe?). Wonderful view behind the scene of a string quartet - just loved it and consequently I will always have a fondness for the Guarneri SQ. Anyone have any comments about how they're sounding with the new cellist?
Sandy,
was it the LaSalle? I think they recorded on DG.
The LaSalle Quartet was excellent, but were not French. They were based at the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music. However, I think the first violinist (Walter Levin) was living in France in retirement 10-20 years ago, but one retired violinist does not a French quartet make.
LaSalle? And not French? OK, but I'm still not sure. Thanks anyway.
Sandy
Ligeti is an all time favorite for me!!
and the artemis quartet plays it beautifully i think
For anyone interested in the Second Viennese School, (besides me), I recommend the La Salle SQ set "Neue Wiener Schule" out on Deutche Grammophon. I studied chamber music with both Henry Meyer (RIP) and Peter Kamnitzer, and they were both fabulous teachers. I still harbor great fondness for Mr. Meyer, who passed this year at Christmas time.
Sandy...Ysaye quartet?
I don't think it's the Ysaye. The LaSalle sounds closest. At any rate, all of the players in this group had a way of playing that the sound was "solid" from the beginning of the note to the end of the note. The bow changes and accents were crisp and articulate, and with a gritty kind of sound that is hard to describe. And they did not always use vibrato. As I mentioned, that beautiful slow movement of Opus 59 #3 (with the constant pizz droning of the cello) was positively haunting.
Sandy
Sevgul,
Yeah, I have that same recording of Ligeti quartets, great stuff. :)
Sander, how long ago was it? Could it be one of the pre-war ensembles (Calvet?) or rather in the 50ies and 60ies (Parrenin, Pascal?)
The Pascal SQ?. I've LVB last five by them. It's from the end of the 50s.I think. Very fine versions. And a great Chausson concerto by them with Menuhin and Kentner.
The Hollywood (crazy good), Vermeer (Ashkenasi is their incredible first violinist)and Smetena, (whom I never metena)(although my grandfather went on a stroll with the Kroll; he played banjo...who played fiddle?). I'm terribly sorry to confess this on violinist.com, but I really like the Busch Quartet (Adolph, not George).
Curtis String Quartet. Sadly, none of their Westminster recordings from the 50's have never made it to CD. They are absolute gems, specially the Brahms 2nd, the Schumann 3rd and 2 Mendelssohn quartets, op. 12 and op. 44/1.
I have to say that in the fall of '86 I heard the Guarneri live for the first time. It was a concert in Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. They played 2 Beethoven quartets, op. 59 #1 and op. 127. It is easily the best concert I have ever attended.
"Penn's Landing in Philadelphia"
Was it outdoors?
Ihnsouk
Hi Ihnsouk,
No, it was indoors. There is a fairly large auditorium there.
Regards,
joey
Such great quartets mentioned. Yes, the Pascal sounds familiar; I'll bet that's it. Anyone know if their Beethoven's are out on CD?
Check this out - a listing of who is (or was) in almost every string quartet in history:
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/1790/q_gi.htm
I'm glad someone mentioned the Curtis Quartet. Mr. Brodsky had a special sound and the group was amazing. Mr. Cole was one of the great cellists of that time too. Their Dvorak American and Debussy Quartets are models style and ensemble.
Joey - Have you heard these recordings? I'm sure you have. Great stuff.
I wish someone would release their stuff...
Hi, Kevin,
I think I have all of their Westminster recordings. I bought the records and had a friend transfer them to CD. Somewhere I also have a cassette of a recording they did for Columbia in the 30's of the Smetana Quartet.
Here's what I have:
1) Brahms, Quartets 2 and 3
2) Schumann, Quartets 1 and 3
3) Mendelssohn, Quartets op. 12 and 44
4) Franck, Piano Quintet (with Vladimir Sokoloff)
5) Dohnanyi, String Quartet in Db, Piano Quintet in Eb(also with Dr. Sokoloff)
6) Ravel, Debussy Quartets
7) Dvorak "American", Smetana "From My Life"
Landy Cole was a fantastic cellist. He sounded great even in his 70's when I knew him.
Joey
Has everybody heard the Takacs' new Schubert recording by now? *Swoon*!!
What do you guys think of the old Talich quartet? The only other Czech quartet I know is the Smetana.
Unfortunately, Sander, no CD edition of the Pascal quartet...they did the whole Beethoven and most of the Mozart...
Maura, Czech out the Vlach!
Just got their 1959 recording of the Debussy and Ravel quartets (golly...what an unusual pairing...); their sound is VOLUPTUOUS; you can almost taste it's richness...absolutely gorgeous and never heard anything like it.
(A totally different approach than the Guarneri to these pieces and the only recording other than theirs I adore.)
I never Smet-ena ther quartet with their sound and want to Tal-ich to the world.
Ooh, yes, forgot the Vlach. I have their Janacek #1, and it's awesome. Perhaps not the cleanest rendition around, but they get to the heart and essence of the music like no one else. (More food for thought on nationality in music...I swear I'm going to blog about that someday...)
Maura, i'd love to see your blog on that issue.
Daniel, thanks for the info. Their Beethoven (yes, it was the Pascal Quartet, now that I recognize the name) Quartet cycle was an incredible recording. No quartet ever sounded like them. Let's just hope someone decides to publish it on CDs.
Sandy
Hi,
I saw the Tokyo Quartet last night in Ottawa, and I had to write to say that is was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed it. What did they play?
I was listening to Brahms Quartet played by Tokyo String Quartet recently. To me their playing of A minor sounded nice. I can't quite tell what it is, but when I switched to listening to the same pieces played by Alan Berg SQ, I find myself enjoying more.
Ihnsouk
Hi,
They played the Haydn Op. 76 #2, the second Schumann Quartet and the Beethoven Op. 59 #3. It was terrific. Just a great moment in music making. At this point, the quartet sounds terrific with their current formation. It's still sounding in my mind and its been days!
Cheers!
I had the opportunity to work with the Tokyo Quartet in a masterclass in 2000 or 2001, when Kopelman was still playing and Clive Greensmith was brand new. Last year, they gave a masterclass in Hamburg in their new formation. What was most interesting for me was to see how the group dynamic had changed and developed: when I played for them, the inner voices did the large majority of teaching and explaining (I should mention that all four members teach together in a masterclass: they all come up on stage and stand behind their respective chairs), with Clive adding a few things here and there about the bass. Kopel was very laconic - he said something about my right arm, which made all the difference in the world, but he wasn't so involved in making the quartet work.
Jump to 2006 - there, I was surprised to see that Clive Greensmith and Martin Beaver were very active in the teaching. In fact, I think they'd really fallen into their leading roles, while the inner voices were more supportive. Interesting to see how they interacted, and I wonder if this reflects their rehearsal style at all. All in all, quite a fascinating approach to masterclasses, and something that seems to happen quite rarely.
yes, megan, i've heard the st lawrence with scott a couple of times now, and they're fantastic! i especially love watching the coordination of geoff and scott's feet.
Now that I can imagine!
I'm glad to see the Pascal Quartet finally made it into the Web. When I first got a computer a few years ago, there was nothing. In fact, I joined Violinist.com especially to post my rave about this marvellous ensemble.
The downside of having been immersed in the Pascal's Beethoven back in the late fifties-early sixties, was that everyone else sounded pedestrian by comparison. Bought the records, went to concerts- no one measured up. After a while I stopped bothering.
For one thing, no first violin had anywhere near the artistry of Jaques Dumont. One of the great violinists of the century, I would maintain, the other great French Jaques. But I was a big fan of Maurice Crut, the second violin, as well. My mentor of those days, and fellow sting quartet player, had turned me on to the Pascal in the first plade, and we were regular Dumont/Crut impersonators as we switched first and second. Simply couldn't hear it any other way.
Similarly for the wonderful Pascal, notably in those Beethoven quartets.
They also recorded the Mozart Quintets with Walter Gerhart. Now, others would match them in the Mozarts, but for anyone who might be able to, do yourself a favour: Check out the slow movement of the C Major--a kind of operatic love duet between first violin and viola. I'll warrant you seldom heard such eloquent playing.
Agree. I've the last LvB SQ and the quintets. A really warm and intelligent performance.
And there was an ensamble that never made recordings, but I gess it should be interesting, and was the string quartet of London's Beethoven Society: Joachim and Ernst violins, Wieniawsky on viola and Piatti at the cello.
Lindsayan Quartet! My former teacher's group!
Greetings,
where doe sthat name come from? Surprised they didn`t get confuse dwith te Lindsay quartet which coud provide some of the wildest musical rides in history.
Cheers,
Buri
Javier is from Bolivia Stephen. I think...... I recall.......... that the name may be indigenous to Bolivia? But I cannot say.
The Miami, Takacs, and Tokyo String Quartets are my favorite. As for repertoire, Ravel and all of the Brahms quartets.
I have recordings of the Klingler Quartet (which included players from Joachim's Quartet) and the Flonzaley Quartet. These were very fine Quartets. These along with the Capet Quartet can really spoil your hearing for modern quartets.
The Lindsays
Some other rare old ensambles that made recordings are the Bohemian SQ (with Josef Suk Sr.), the Kreisler, the Amar-Hindemith, the Schneiderhann and the Primrose (this one all stars: Oskar Shumsky, Josef Gingold, Primrose and Harvey Shapiro!).
A friend of mine used to be in the Lindsayen Quartet. They were sponsored by someone with the last name of Lindsay. But since the Lindsay was already a quartet, they used the name Lindsayen.
No offense to my friend, but I think I liked the LIndsay better than the LIndsayen.
Greetings,
interesting. I thought the name might have been a problem...
As for the Lindsay`s, at their worst they could produce some of the most excruciating sound ever heard on the planet. At their best they could go places noone has ever been. Fortunatley they erre dtowards the latter. Never a dull moment.
Cheers,
buri
I am most certainly biased because I was mentored by William Preucil and Peter Salaff, but...
the Cleveland Quartet will always hold a special place in my heart. They have a transparency of sound and unity of purpose that is quite amazing. I asked my teacher what they spent the most time doing in rehearsals. The first thing he said was taking coffee breaks. The second was practicing slowly together.
I adored the Guarneri Quartet when they were still up. Today, I like the Hagen Quartet, closely followed by Alban Berg and Borodin. :)
The guarneri quartet still sounds great. I heard them play ravel , kodaly, and the "rider" all with extraordinary musicianship and their distinctive silky sound. i have never heard a more exciting and dynamic Haydn, and the colors in the third movement of the Ravel quartet were to die for.
I don't John Dalley has gotten his due in the shadow of Steinhardt. One would be hard pressed to find a more rock-solid 2nd violinist.
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April 3, 2007 at 04:59 AM · A few of my favorites:
Mendelssohn op 44 no 2
Beethoven Razumovsky 3
Beethoven op 132
Haydn op 76 no 2
Grieg
Glass no. 3
Janacek no. 1