Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Complete String Quartets – The 1982 Live Recordings
Juilliard String Quartet
rec. live, 1982, Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
SONY CLASSICAL 19075964442 [9 CDs: 533:02]
This is the second complete recording of the Beethoven String Quartets by the Juilliard String Quartet that Sony have released
in the last year; the other set containied the recordings they made between 1964 and 1970 (19075992332), which gained many plaudits both then and now. Despite this, it is this live set from 1982 that I remember having back in the days of the LP;
it was my first complete survey of the Beethoven quartets and gave me much
pleasure,
I suppose that when listening to a complete cycle of the quartets, everyone will have a favourite place to start.
For me it is the “Große Fuge” and the late quartets; then I work forward, whilst a friend of mine always starts with Quartet No. 7 in F, the first of the “Rasumovsky” quartets. Sadly, the sound of the late quartets lets this set down.
In the “Große Fuge” for instance it is a little on the thin side
and at times a bit squeaky. Yes, the performances are live, but whilst it is a long time since I heard this particular recording of the quartets, I don’t remember the sound being this bad.
The sound of the early quartets is better, with that of the middle quartets being acceptable, the worst of the sound being in the later quartets, and it is not restricted to just the one disc. This is a shame as, despite the more traditional approach to the quartets, the performance is quite good, especially in the earlier quartets.
The Op 18 quartets, especially Nos. 1 and 3, enjoy clear, driven performances of the Op.18 quartets, with an especially fine performance of No. 1 and No. 3,
and the Rasumovskys get a fair crack of the whip, with the first of the middle period quartets, No. 7 in F, coming across well, with the opening Allegro and closing Thème russe. Allegro being noteworthy. However, it is the E minor Quartet, No. 8, which comes out on top here, this despite the slightly thin top end in the Allegretto – Maggiore (Thème russe), although the driven performance of the Finale. Presto makes up for that. The slow introduction to the C Major Quartet No. 9 is handled wonderfully, which sets up well for the rest of the movement and the work as a whole. These are followed by nice recordings of the “Harp” and “Serioso” quartets, thus bringing the middle period to an end.
The late quartets open with a really nice recording of the Nos. 12 and 13, with the first of these being particularly fine, but, as
I say above, on the next disc things go steadily downhill. Having No. 13 over two discs doesn’t help,
and the violin sounds particularly strained, something I don’t remember from the LP version. The final disc of the nine houses the 15th and 16th quartets, which again receive fairly good recordings whilst also receiving better sound quality than the previous disc. Overall, the tempos selected here tend to be slower than in their earlier recording, which is usual for live recordings, but with this set about thirty minutes longer over the nine discs it makes a big difference.
Only the first violin, Robert Mann, is present here from the original incarnation of the
quartet, although Samuel Rhodes, the violist here did join Mann for the late quartets on Sony’s collection of the Juilliard’s earlier recordings of the complete Beethoven, which although recorded between 1964 and 1970, is blessed with a more consistent sound quality
You even get a booklet with that issue, something that is sadly missing here. The
main problem here is the sound quality; admittedly, these are live
performances, so you get the odd cough and rapturous applause, but this does not account for everything,
as at times the balance sounds odd, the violin sounding thin and out on a limb. This is
a pity, as there are some really pleasing recordings here, but the poor sound
quality means that this is not a set I would recommend; the earlier
recording is the one to go for if you want the Juilliard String Quartet.
Stuart Sillitoe
Early String Quartets
CD 1 [53:27]
Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18 No. 1 (1798-1800) [29:32]
Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18 No.2 (1798-1800) [23:50]
CD 2 [48:34]
Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 18 No. 3 (1798-1800) [24:41]
Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4 (1798-1800) [23:48]
CD 3 [53:24]
Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18 No. 5 (1798-1800) [27:32]
Quartet No. 6 in B flat major, Op. 18 No. 6 (1798-1800) [25:44]
Middle String Quartets
CD 4 [41:19]
Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 ‘Rasumovsky’ (1805/6) [38:57]
CD 5 [70:23]
Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 ‘Rasumovsky’ (1805/6) [38:57]
Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 ‘Rasumovsky’ (1805/6) [31:21]
CD 6 [54:08]
Quartet No. 10 in E flat major, Op. 74 ‘The Harp’ (pub. 1809) [32:32]
Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 ‘Serioso’ (1810) [21:29]
Late String Quartets
CD 7 [72:05]
Quartet No. 12 in E flat major, Op. 127 (1824-25) [38:26]
Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130 Mvts. I – V (1825-26) [36:32]
CD 8 [65:31]
Große Fuge in B flat major, Op. 133 (1825-26) [15:05]
Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130 Mvt. VI [10:41]
Quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 131 (1826) [39:33]
CD 9 [74:11]
Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 (1825) [45:16]
Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135 (1826) [28:49]
Juilliard String Quartet members
Robert Mann (violin)
Earl Carlyss (violin)
Samuel Rhodes (viola)
Joel Krosnick (cello)
