Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Septet, Op.20 (1799-1800)* [40:52]
Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon, Op.16 (1796)**
[25:24]
Members of the Vienna Octet (Willi Boskovsky (violin)*, Günther
Breitenbach (viola)*, Nikolaus Hübner (cello)*, Johann Krump (double
bass)*, Alfred Boskovsky (clarinet)*/**, Joseph Veleba (horn)*/**, Rudolf
Hanzl (bassoon)*/**, Walter Panhofer (piano)**, Manfred Kautsky (horn)**)
rec. 7-9 June, 1957* and 2-6 March, 1959**. ADD.
ALTO ALC1243 [66:27]
This CD arrived with another Alto release of classic
recordings: Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, An American
in Paris and Piano Concerto in classic performances from Leonard
Bernstein and Eugene List (ALC1247 – review).
I reviewed that some time ago and mentioned this Beethoven CD then –
justly hailed on the rear insert as containing Legendary Recordings
– as a reissue in the same league. Somehow, my review of the Beethoven
got lost in the works, but here it is at last.
The Septet is a cheerful work – a quality that Beethoven is not
always renowned for – if not quite as full of beans as Schubert’s Octet,
which was modelled on it. Not surprisingly, there are something like
forty recordings in the current catalogue.
This Vienna Octet recording, formerly available from Decca coupled with
the Mendelssohn Octet – sample or stream from Qobuz
– has also been reissued on Australian Decca Eloquence 4802403, a 2-CD
set with their performances of Beethoven’s String Quintet, Op.29,
Sextet for Horn and Strings, Op.81b, both recorded in 1969, and
the Schubert Octet (1958). If you don’t have those other works,
especially the Schubert Octet, one of the sunniest works in the
chamber repertoire, that Eloquence set for around £11 represents good
value, but if you have their Schubert or another version which you don’t
wish to replace, or prefer the coupling on Alto, that’s even better
value.
Australian Decca have another rival recording of the Septet from
the Melos Ensemble of London, recorded by Oiseau Lyre in 1960 and coupled
with the Serenade, Op.25 (Eloquence 4802155 – sample or stream
from Qobuz)
and I’ve used that and the Gaudier Ensemble on budget-price Hyperion
Helios CDH55189, with the Sextet, Op.81b, downloaded from hyperion-records.co.uk
(mp3 and lossless), as my measuring sticks for the Alto reissue.
I remembered the Vienna Octet version as a little slower and more loving
and the Melos as faster and livelier, but memories can play false –
there’s very little to choose between the two accounts, with one slightly
faster in one movement while the boot is on the other foot elsewhere.
The same is mostly true of the Gaudier Ensemble on Hyperion, though
there’s a measure of disagreement about the adagio cantabile
second movement with the Gaudiers (8:44) closer to the Viennese timing
(8:59) and the Melos sounding somewhat slower at 9:20. I think the
faster times are adagio enough and they are both certainly cantabile.
The Hyperion recording costs around the same as the Alto and the recording
is more recent, but you may not think the coupling quite as attractive.
Otherwise you can hardly go wrong with either.
The Piano and Wind Quintet, another sunnier work than we often
associate with Beethoven, was modelled on Mozart’s work for the same
combination – surely K452, not K542, as stated in the Alto booklet –
with which it’s often coupled on CD, as on BIS-CD-1552, Stephen Hough
with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. That version, heartily recommended
by Michael Cookson – review
– is my benchmark, as downloaded in 24-bit sound, complete with pdf
booklet, from eclassical.com.
Walter Panhofer (piano) recorded regularly with the Vienna Octet from
the early 1950s to the early 1970s and several of his recordings with
them have been reissued on Australian Decca Eloquence, including a fine
account of Schubert’s Trout Quintet (4803431, with Octet
and Mendelssohn Octet) with which I happily became reacquainted
courtesy of Qobuz,
though I wouldn’t recommend purchasing their download: through the vagaries
of economics that costs more than the 2-CD set.
I wouldn’t regard his Schubert as the last word: his playing can be
somewhat literal at times and the same is true of his Beethoven by comparison
with a recording like the BIS, but on the whole this is an enjoyable
performance.
I’ve already mentioned that the Hyperion recording of the Septet
is more recent but there’s nothing wrong with the Alto transfer of a
recording made in the late 1950s. I’m not sure that the 1957 date given
is quite right, as this recording was first released in mono in 1956
(LXT5094). I presume that the transfer was made from LP rather than
from the master tapes, but you would hardly know. The Quintet,
though slightly younger, sounds a little restricted and the piano tone
a little hard by comparison with the Septet and even more by
comparison with the 24-bit BIS recording, but not unduly so and not
enough to spoil my listening pleasure.
If you want this particular coupling, these classic performances are
still well worth having. With decent transfers and informative notes
– brief, but better than you get from some other budget labels, Hyperion
excepted – you should be able to find this CD for less than £6, far
less in real terms than the £0.99 LPs that we used to think an irresistible
bargain, so there’s no need to hesitate. The Septet alone on
SXL2157 cost almost £2 in 1960 – that’s around £50 in today’s values.
What are you waiting for?
Brian Wilson
