BaL 27.01.24 - Mozart: String Quintet no. 3 in C (K.515)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

10.30 am
Building a Library

Roger Parker chooses his favourite recording of Mozart’s String Quintet No.3 in C major.

Mozart reaches a high peak of his genius in this quintet for strings. He and his friends played his quintets for fun, but what happened after that remains mysterious. Unlike his piano concertos which were quickly sold, the quintets were hardly snapped up by the amateurs, partly because of their technical difficulty. He was eventually forced to sell them to his publishers for next to nothing. The poignant slow movement is pure Mozart and the finale is jubilant and life-enhancing.

Available versions:-

Alban Berg Quartett, Markus Wolf
Alexander String Quartet, Paul Yarbrough *
Amadeus Quartet, Cecil Aronowitz
Amadeus Quartet, Cecil Aronowitz
L’Archibudelli, , Anner Bylsma *
Auryn Quartet, Andreas (SACD)
Budapest String Quartet, Walter Trampler
Renaud Capuçon, Alina Ibragimova, Gérard Caussé, Léa Hennino, Clemens Hagen (DVD)
Chilingirian Quartet, Yuko Inoue
Eder Quartet, Janos Fehervari
Fine Arts Quartet, Jean Dupouy *
Fine Arts Quartet, Francis Tursi
Griller Quartet , William Primrose *
Grumiaux Trio, Arpad Gérecz, Max Lesueur
Guarneri Quartet, Ida Kavafian *
Viviane Hagner, Colin Jacobsen, Antoine Tamestit, Tatjana Masurenko, Jan Vogler
Jascha Heifetz, Israel Baker, Virginia Majewski, William Primrose, Gregor Piatigorsky *
Juilliard Quartet, Walter Trampler
Klenke Quartet, Harald Schoneweg
Lindsay String Quartet, Louise Williams
Melos Quartet, Franz Beyer
Nash Ensemble, Philip Dukes
Orlando Quartet, Nobuko Imai
Quartetto Stradivari, Karine Lethiec *
Quatuor Ebène, Antoine Tamestit
Quatuor Sine Nomine, Raphaël Oleg *
Quatuor Van Kuijk, Adrien La Marca
Quatuor Voce, Lise Berthaud
Salomon Quartet, Simon Whistler
Takács Quartet, Gyorgy Pauk *
Talich Quartet, Karel Rehak
Tatrai Quartet, Anna Mauthner *
Tokyo String Quartet, Pinchas Zukerman *
Vienna String Quintet *
Zukerman Chamber Players *

* = download only

[Pulcinella]

To preempt an enquiry from Alison: this hasn't featured on a BBC MM CD either!

[Darloboy]

This quintet has never been covered specifically on BaL before, although there was a programme on all 6 quintets back in 1983, for which I don’t know what the recommendation was. There was then a programme on K515 and 516 in November 1988 when Christopher Headington chose the Grumiaux complete set with the Smetana Quartet as a single disc choice. Incidentally the 4th, 5th & 6th quintets have all been covered since then and on each occasion the Grumiaux set was first choice.

[smittims]

Yes, I too would recommend Grumiaux. It aways had good reviews whenever it was reissued. My own favourites, thoough I wouldn't expect them to be a BaL first choice, are the Budapest and Amadeus.

[Goon525]

I’d have thought the recent Ebene, a Gramophone award winner, might be favourite to overtake the now ancient Gramiaux.

[richardfinegold]

I’d have thought the recent Ebene, a Gramophone award winner, might be favourite to overtake the now ancient Gramiaux.

The Ebene is a wonderful recording

[MickyD]

There was a good account from Hausmusik, too, but now fetching silly prices on Amazon.

[HighlandDougie]

I also much like the Ébène/Tamestit recording to the extent that some other performances, like that I heard live last Monday by the American Miró Quartet in HK, seem a bit plodding by comparison. I also like the Talich Quartet in the 5tets.

[Mandryka]

Takacs quartet/Pauk is a good one.

[gurnemanz]

When gradually replacing LPs with CD versions I opted for the Quatuor Talich in these works, via a good value and widely recommended threefer from French label, Calliope. It also throws in the Clarinet Quintet. It has served me very well for a couple of decades and the only other version I have bought is the classic (rec 1959) Griller Quartet with William Primrose. It came on one of the Discothèque Idéale de Diapason compilations which I got as download from Presto

[Barbirollians]

I’d have thought the recent Ebene, a Gramophone award winner, might be favourite to overtake the now ancient Gramiaux.

Yes I suspect you are right but I have never found the need to buy another version yet - the "ancient" Grumiaux still sounds good to me - although I imagine Mr McGregor will be appalled if it is chosen.

[pastoralguy]

I also much like the Ébène/Tamestit recording to the extent that some other performances, like that I heard live last Monday by the American Miró Quartet in HK, seem a bit plodding by comparison. I also like the Talich Quartet in the 5tets.

I can’t claim to have heard all of the recordings mentioned heroically above but I’ve heard a fair few. For me, the Ébéne Quartet with Temestit is the most persuasive. I may be because I was lucky enough to hear them almost a year ago at the Wigmore Hall and was incredibly impressed.

[akiralx]

Yes the Grumiaux still sounds fine considering its age - another good modern set is the Nash on Hyperion.

[smittims]

I had the Hausmusik set when it was reissued in 1995 on Virgin Veritas, with a lovely George Stubbs on the cover. Clearly a lot of care had gone into the interpretations, and I suppose it's interesting for those who want to know how these pieces might have sounded in Mozart's day (though, not wanting to open a Pandora's box, I think there's more conjecture in that than many think) but I'm afraid I've never felt 'period' performances get to the heart of the music as the traditional ensembles do.

I see the Pro Arte quartet with Alfred Hobday are on You Tube. This is the earliest recording I can trace of this work.

[Mandryka]

I had the Hausmusik set when it was reissued in 1995 on Virgin Veritas, with a lovely George Stubbs on the cover. Clearly a lot of care had gone into the interpretations, and I suppose it's interesting for those who want to know how these pieces might have sounded in Mozart's day (though, not wanting to open a Pandora's box, I think there's more conjecture in that than many think) but I'm afraid I've never felt 'period' performances get to the heart of the music as the traditional ensembles do.

I see the Pro Arte quartet with Alfred Hobday are on You Tube. This is the earliest recording I can trace of this work.

Try Ensemble 415 if you can -- it's probably my favourite of all.

https://www.discogs.com/release/14028887-Mozart-Ensemble-415-Chiara-Banchini-Enrico-Gatti-Emilio-Moreno-Irmgard-Schaller-K%C3%A4thi-Gohl-String-Q