Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
String Quartet No. 15 in G, D887 (1826) [40:29]
String Quartet No. 8 in B-flat, D112 (Op.168) [25:24]
The Busch String Quartet (Adolf Busch (violin); Gösta Andreasson (violin);
Karl Doktor (viola); Hermann Busch (cello))
rec. five HMV 78s, 22, 30 November 1938 (Quartet No.15); three HMV 78s, 25
November 1938 (Quartet No.8).
PRISTINE AUDIO XR PACM066 [65:53]
We are becoming used to modern transfers which bring out the hidden life of
old recordings, both LPs and 78s, but this one made by Andrew Rose in October,
2009 is without doubt the best re-mastering that I have heard of any pre-war
recording. I should not have been surprised - my colleagues have been singing
the praises of these re-masterings for some time now. You wouldn’t mistake
it for something recorded recently, but you might well be forgiven for thinking
it a transfer of a mid-1950s master tape. I am not normally a great fan of
historical recordings - they have to be special, like the Beecham La Bohème -
but this is certainly a recording that I shall be keeping in my collection.
The Busch Quartet’s Schubert has always been well regarded, but this
was the first time that I have been able to judge that reputation for myself
and I am as impressed by the performances as by the brushing up of the recording.
I had half-expected to hear some pre-war quirks of playing; in the event, I
was not aware of anything of the sort.
String Quartet No.15, D887, is comparatively well known today - less so in
1938, I imagine - and there are several good modern recordings. The Busch Quartet
version was already available on a mid-price EMI CD, coupled with the Death
and the Maiden Quartet, No.14, from 1936 - not listed by some dealers,
so it may be destined for deletion - and in the same coupling from Urania.
I haven’t heard either of those transfers, but it is difficult to believe
that they might excel or even equal the Pristine Audio. Evan Dickerson wrote
about the EMI in detail and I urge you to read that review,
since it contains a detailed analysis of D887 that sits so well with my own
that it would be senseless to repeat it.
I’m not quite sure how the engineers in 1938 fitted D887 on five 78s.
Presumably the first movement at 13:26 and the second at 11:33 each ran to
three sides, though I can’t see how the remaining movements, at 5:58
and 9:32 could then have been fitted on the remaining four sides.
There must have been some temptation to adapt tempi to suit a more convenient
set of side-breaks, but artistic considerations clearly triumphed over the
technical. I was never conscious of tempi increasing as the engineers desperately
signalled the end of a side. Some repeats are omitted, but that is not unusual
in live performance or on modern recordings where time restraints are not relevant.
In fact, I rather feel that this quartet benefits from the omission of some
repeats; it is rather a long work.
Naxos manage only the Five German Dances, D90, as the coupling for their
performance by the Kodály Quartet (8.557125), though I continue to recommend
that performance as the best combination of quality and price, along with the
Philips Duo set of all the late quartets with the Quartetto Italiano: 446 163-2
- one to snap up if you want a good stereo set of Quartets 12-15: Philips Duos
seems to be on a deletions roll. I regard the Kodály Quartet performance
rather more highly than did Michael Cookson - see review -
I’m more inclined to agree with Terry Barfoot, who thought it a triumphant
performance - see review.
That Naxos recording, downloaded from classisconline, has recently been my
version of choice - see my April, 2009, Download
Roundup. Now I shall be hard put to choose between it and the Busch Quartet.
I haven’t yet tried the Belcea Quartet’s recent recording of Quartets
14 and 15, with the String Quintet, an EMI 2-CD bargain which Michael Cookson
made Recording of the Month - see review.
From past experience of the Belcea’s Schubert, I shouldn’t be surprised
to find myself placing that version, too, at or near the top of the pile.
String Quartet No.8 is far less well known. The Busch version is already available
on a 4-CD EMI set coupling it with Mendelssohn and Beethoven which was awarded
a Rosette in the Penguin Guide.
The performance certainly earns my equivalent of that rosette and I cannot
imagine the Pristine Audio transfer being bettered or even rivalled. I can’t
remember having heard this quartet more than once or twice and I had not tended
to think of it as one of Schubert’s best works in this form, but the
Busch Quartet left me wondering why. The central movements offer a typically
Schubertian contrast between the profundity of the Andante sostenuto and
the sheer delight of the Menuetto, a contrast which is very effectively
brought out in this performance. Again, I don’t hear any evidence of
tempi being forced to accommodate the work on six 78 sides, though the engineers
probably held their breath over the 9:12 time for the second movement, which
is pushing the limit for two 78 sides somewhat.
By their own reckoning, Pristine Audio had good material to work with here
in some of HMV’s finest 78 rpm recordings. Their website describes the
techniques employed and the various stages of the process, two of which are
illustrated with recorded examples. The crackle caused by HMV’s employment
of hard shellac was comparatively easy to deal with, though I remember that
it was the bane of those of us who, in the dying days of 78s, tried to preserve
our records by using Imhof fibre needles, which had to be regularly re-sharpened.
The harder the shellac, the more frequent the sharpening, especially if the
grooves had to cleared of detritus in the case of a record that had been played
with steel needles.
Surface swish, the 78 equivalent of tape hiss, is harder to remove when it
falls within the frequencies which the engineers wish to preserve. It is briefly
apparent in the third movement of Quartet No.8, if heard on phones, but it
is never really troublesome. The final stage of the re-mastering involves the
application of an ambient stereo effect - not the kind of frequency filtering
that Decca and others employed in the 1970s, though I never found that quite
as troublesome as many did - but something far more subtle. EMI’s German
partner Electrola used to employ a subtle technique called Breitklang,
to add greater breadth and depth to mono recordings without artificial spatial
pinpointing of voices or instruments. I seem to recall some Rudolf Kempe opera
recordings benefited from the technique and I imagine that something similar
has been employed here. The final result still sounds a little dry, but that’s
all there is to complain about.
Pristine Audio offer no analysis of the music, though they give details about
the recording, including the matrix numbers and which takes were chosen. The
notes on Adolf Busch, from Wikipedia, on the rear insert are printed in a very
small font (Goudy?) which is hard to read - a sans-serif font might have been
more legible at this size. Perhaps it all ties in with Pristine’s campaign
to persuade everybody to take the green route and download their recordings.
In addition to the CD, this recording is available in mp3 form for €7
and in lossless flac for €9. Whichever form you choose, I urge you to
listen and to go for it. Look at the Pristine Audio website,
too; there are several other recordings there that I find very tempting and
I think you will, also.
Brian Wilson