BaL 4.06.11 - Beethoven: String Quartet in E flat, Op. 74 "Harp"

[rodney_h_d]

It took me a while to get into this so-called Harp quartet. Longer than for others.....

Perhaps there's still hope for me then, although somehow I doubt it after many years of trying! Beethoven is absolutely No.1 for me, but I've never got the message of this quartet.

[Norfolk Born]

I bought the Cleveland Quartet's recording - with which I'm pretty happy - because I needed Opp 74 and 95 to complete my set of Beethoven quartets and didn't want any duplicates.

[mikealdren]

I thought was an unkind dismissal of the dear old Amadeus Quartet

I've never understood the almost reverential view of the Amadeus and I felt the excerpts amply demonstrated just how bad they were at the end of their careers. There was no example from their earlier version but an excellent description of why it was rejected.

I also agree with the view of the Emerson. Although I'm not a fan of the Alban Bergs, I found it a well balanced and interesting review.

Mike

[aeolium]

I have often found Harriet Smith a fussy and dismissive reviewer, especially in chamber music. I remember her deriding Tchaikovsky's string quartets (on CD Review, during a survey of new chamber music discs). I didn't agree with her view that the poco adagio introduction to the Harp quartet needed to be played with purpose - it seems to me it is the exact opposite, a mysterious and interrogative opening where the (first-time) listener does not know which key will eventually become 'home'. The version by the Quartetto Italiano, which I think is excellent, was dismissed with faint praise, and the fine Leipzig Quartet whose version was the first extract played (and sounded very good) was not heard again. The ABQ which was the chosen version sounded too urbane to me, though I agreed with HS that the Emerson's performance was too driven. I also agreed with her opinion of the Budapest's historical version & would like to hear more of it.

I would rather have had this work reviewed by Richard Wigmore, or Jan Smaczny (or perhaps an Interpretation on Records discussion).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I would rather have had this work reviewed by Richard Wigmore, or Jan Smaczny (or perhaps an Interpretation on Records discussion).

Well, maybe, but we can't choose our own reviewer. Harriet Smith was far less dismissive than, say, Roy Goodman, in the Beethoven Violin Concerto BaL.

[Alf-Prufrock]

I think there is always some danger in praising highly a performance where the intonation is suspect, to put it mildly. This is much less of a problem with highly trained quartets these days than in my youth, when quite well-praised performances were all over the place (in the recital room, I mean, rather than on disc, though the problem existed there too).

I can take a bit of screwing the note about, which is why I can love the Vegh performance I own, but have a friend who is really ear-winced by poor intonation. He once bought a disc by the Lindsays and could not endure it, throwing it in the bin. He would be very annoyed to be recommended to buy such a flawed recording on a programme that is supposed to be recommending the best all-round performance. And I thought the Lindsays were just a little unfocussed in much of what we heard yesterday.

That can't be said of the Alban Berg, but like most here I would not put the ABQ above all others.

[Barbirollians]

I love the Quartetto Italiano's recordings of the late quartets but I do not have them in this - and am more than happy enough sticking with the Takacs in the Harp Quartet.

[visualnickmos]

Did the Juilliard get a mention? I can't remember. I have this set as well as the ABQ, but must give their [Juilliard's] "Harp" a listen.