It’s been a long time coming. Budapesters will know that the
Bridge discs devoted to the Middle [9099A/C] and Late Quartets
[9072A/C] were issued a good, long time ago – 2000 and 1997
respectively to be precise. I’m not sure why this final volume
has been so long delayed, but the wait has been worth it as
the performances match those previously issued in their levels
of executant excellence and forceful commitment. There are the
usual caveats about the Library of Congress sound quality, which
is often very boxy, but these were in-house recordings and never
meant for commercial release so one cannot be too critical,
rather thankful to the Bridge team for choosing, tidying up,
transferring, and releasing these musically and historically
important performances.
They cover a transitional period in the quartet’s history when
Edgar Ortenberg replaced Sasha Schneider in the second violin
chair before Schneider’s subsequent return. Thus the A major,
recorded in November 1943, features Schneider and the D major
Op.18 No.3 which was given in concert on 9 March 1944 features
Ortenberg. Handily, Ortenberg’s performances are contained in
disc 1 and Schneider’s in disc 2.
The live performances compare favourably in all but recording
quality with the commercial discs that have survived in this
repertoire. The F major, Op.18 No.1 (23 March 1944) is in fact
considerably more expansive than the 78 set made in the Liederkranz
Hall back in 1940. This is particularly true of the far more
relaxed and spun-out slow movement. The performance triumphs
the rather mushy sound quality. Three weeks later they performed
the G major in a slightly boxier recording but in a fully dramatic
reading. It’s aligned with their tautly driving best 1940s Beethoven
style, and their projection of the expressive elements of the
slow movement is astutely judged. One of the coups of this release
is that it preserves Ortenberg’s very first concert with the
group, on 9 March. There are no tentative moments at all, and
ensemble is rock solid.
The fourth in the Op.18 set takes us forward in time to 1962,
the last year of the group’s residence at the Library. The sound
here is rather boomy and dry. Leader Joseph Roisman’s intonation
wanders around a good bit but he gets better as the work develops.
The performance is quicker than one is used to hearing from
the group and there’s a razory quality to the corporate sound
that borders on insistence, though the March rhythms bite well.
For No.5 we go back to November 1943 and this certainly captures
a good spectrum of cellist Mischa Schneider’s tone and the well-balanced
ebullience of the slow movement, despite the attendant aural
limitations. The last of the set, No.6, comes from a November
1960 concert. It’s a much better performance than the 1962 No.4
from two years later, and I would rank it significantly higher
than the quartet’s contemporaneous studio recordings, where
they can sound lackadaisical.
As a bonus there’s a rehearsal segment of a performance in April
1944. The work is the slow movement of Op.59 No.2. There’s a
lot of jabbering, and concern over balance, as well as brief
phrases of music played by those not taking part in the chat,
but when the music starts they play largely uninterrupted.
It’s been well worth the wait for these performances. Restoration
has done what it can for the boxy originals, but the energy
and drive of the playing will make up for that. The notes are
helpful, but I part company from David Starobin when he asserts
that it was largely due to the Budapest that Beethoven quartet
cycles became a ‘rite of passage’ for subsequent groups. Beethoven
cycles were nothing new, and the London String Quartet had been
performing them across the globe for two decades before the
Budapest.
Jonathan Woolf
Budapest String Quartet