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My personal Beethoven string quartet journey....

70K views 296 replies 44 participants last post by  Itullian 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm gonna post my journey through these awesome works so far. Hope you enjoy the ride. :)
Alphabetically:

Alan Berg 1st cycle, ADD/DDD,EMI very good sound & performance, required listening
Artemis, Virgin,DDD very good sound and performance
Belcea, Alpha,DDD, very good sound & performance
Borodin, Chandos,DDD, very good sound and performance
Budapest,Sony,mono, good mono sound, good performance
Cremona Quatetto,Audite,DDD, superb sound and playing, a favorite
Cypress, Avie,DDD,very good sound and performance, a fav
Emerson, DGG,DDD,very good sound and performance
Guarneri, Brilliant,DDD,very good sound & performance, a favorite
Hungarian, EMI, mono, good mono sound, great performance
Italiano Quartetto,Philips/Decca,ADD, very good sound & great performance, a classic
Juilliard live, CBS,DDD, very good sound & performance, has the excitement of a live performance
Leipzig,MDG,DDD, excellent sound & performance
Takacs,Decca,DDD, excellent sound and performance
Prazak,PRAGA,DDD, fantastic sound & great performance, a fav
Tokyo, RCA,DDD, excellent sound and performance, a fav
Vegh, Digitals,mono, pretty good sound for mono & great performance.
Vermeer, Warner, DDD, very good sound & performance

Here's where I know some will disagree with me.
Cycles I did not care too much for.
Talich, I just can't get by the recorded sound, I've tried many times and I give up. That violin,UGH.
Gewandhaus, I just don't care for the light sound the cycle has.
No gravitas at all. I always feel like I need to turn up the volume.
Colorado, it's not bad, I just don't like the prominence of the 1st violin and I have heard better performances.
Elias, just heard samples but the strident first violin kills me.
Orford, excellent playing but the volume fluctuates up and down with different quartets.

I'm still waiting to receive in the mail the Smetana and Lindsays so I'll update later on those.

I have the first 2 volumes of the Cuarteto Casals on Harmonia Mundi and love them.

The surprise so far is the Cypress cycle on Avie. I just love the sound and performance there.

I hope you enjoyed this and I'm sure some interesting comments will follow.
Thank for reading this. :tiphat:
 
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#5 · (Edited)
What would you says is your all-time favorite?

I haven't heard all of the quartets, but the Quartetto Italiano has something special to say with just about all of them...
I could definitely go with the Italiano. They couple beauty and depth. Very good sound too.
 
#7 ·
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#8 ·
Thank for sharing your thoughts, Itullian. Where did you find time to listen to all those? Of the ones I've heard which is probably only 20% of your list I generally agree with your assessments. I disagree with your comment about the Elias however. I don't find them strident at all, but vigorous and sinewy when called for and have a fresh sound and interpretation. They are a favourite current cycle. But each to their own!
 
#11 ·
There are two sets of the Hungarians. A stereo and mono. Both on EMI.
Haven't heard the stereo set .......yet :)
 
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#21 ·
Getting ready to update.....stay tuned :)
 
#22 · (Edited)
Since I posted this list I've added a few more cycles.
Wihan Quartet live, Nimbus, DDD, Energetic, fresh performances, good sound
Melos Quartet, DDG, DDD, sophisticated nuanced playing
Tokyo, Harmonia Mundi, DDD, classical, polished playing
Smetana Quartet, Denon, DDD, beautifully recorded, beautiful playing
Medici Quartet, Nimbus, DDD, simple no frills playing

All very good depending on individual taste.
 
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#23 · (Edited)
Thanks for this, Itullian. I have most of these sets and agree with many of your comments. Of those you've mentioned I don't much care for the Orford at all, the Borodin are stiff, Gewandhaus a bit light, Colorado average. Of those you mentioned the Italianos were my first set and a true benchmark of great sets. Vegh, Takacs, Alban Berg, Suske and Cypress are also terrific. I quite like the Talich (that violin is OK to me, lol) and Alexanders 2 is a big improvement on 1. Looking forward to hearing all of the Casals. That's a lovely set up to now.
 
#25 ·
I agree with all your comments.
 
#26 ·
There is a more recent cycle by the Tokyo Quartet on Harmonia Mundi - unfortunately the box I have is out of print getting them piece by piece may be expensive: Part one looks like this:

View attachment 119122
I bought the whole thing when it was available as a cheap box set, and was disappointed; I found much of it too slack for my taste. Their earlier RCA set is considerably better.
 
#27 ·
Thanks for sharing that, Itullian. Like has been said I wonder how you find the time to listen to all those, especially as you are a Wagner fan too! :lol:

But of those you mention I have the ABQ which is very fine and also the Takacs which appears to be the recommended version these days. I can't say these are my favourite LvB works - more admired than loved.
 
#37 ·
Been listening a lot to the Melos Quartet cycle on DDG.
It's awesome.
How the hell is this OOP!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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#39 ·
True, very plain. It's ok but I don't listen to it much.
 
#44 ·
View attachment 119459
Did you ever hear this quartet? It's the only one I've got on CD and seems to me quite nice. I don't really listen to them now, but that's because of spotify. Anyway Beethoven quartets are my favorite Beethoven :)
Yes, $I have heard some and liked it.
But that set is hard to find.
 
#47 · (Edited)
Well, folks, I am at it again.
Adding another cycle to my collection.
I sent for the first 3 volumes of the Kodaly cycle
on Naxos and
liked it well enough to get the set.
I have the Kodaly's Haydn set and loved it so I gave these a try.

Excellent playing here by the Kodaly.
A slightly reverberant acoustic and the instruments sound great.
The Kodaly use tempos a bit slower than most, but not overly so.
Another set to love and cherish. :)

oh, I forgot. Saw the Budapest set for 16 dollars so I couldn't resist getting it.

 
#48 ·
i received from Presto today the next 2 volumes of the Wihan set.
i already have the first volume.
These are energetic, live performances recorded well.


 
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#49 ·
i also received via ebay the Alexander Quartet's cycle on Foghorn.
Thank you to wkasimer for the heads up on this purchase.
I'll listen after the Wihan set.

 
#54 ·
The second recordings of the Beethoven string quartets are also on CD available but perhaps not so easy to find.It is the favorable one by the critics.

If you like the Alban Berg Quartet as I do, this second "live" recording is definitely worth considering
The sound is more than excellent.
I prefer this second live set to the earlier studio set.
 
#57 ·
I've been playing the middle quartets from this set all week. Another decent set. Although it's not in the league of the Alexanders, etc these are decent recordings. Well-played and nicely balanced.

View attachment 120002
I have that set and like it a lot.
It's much smoothr than Alexander but I can turn up and it sounds great.
 
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