This is a recording taken from a radio broadcast made by Westdeutscher
Rundfunk, Cologne in 2012. The last foray the Kuss made into Schubert’s
music on disc was the String Quartet No. 15 in G major coupled
with the Berg String Quartet, Op. 3; their debut release on
Onyx. Recorded in 2010 at the Siemens Villa, Berlin this Schubert/Berg
recording I have played a number of times.
Musicologist David Ewen in his ‘The Complete Book of Classical
Music’ [Pub: 1965, Prentice-Hall] described the String Quintet
D956 as “as one of the most pessimistic documents all chamber
music”. The mood of dark foreboding comes as no surprise as
the work was written in 1828 during the final couple of months of
Schubert’s life. Just a few days after completing the score
it seems that Schubert, accompanied by his brother and some friends,
walked a considerable distance to Eisenstadt to visit Haydn’s
tomb. Schubert’s choice of instrumentation using two violins,
viola and two cellos was unusual and he may well have been influenced
by what Boccherini had done a number of decades earlier in 1771 with
his opus 11 set of six string quintets.
The record catalogue contains a substantial number of recordings
of the C major Quintet and of those that I have come to know there
are five that I particularly admire. My steadfast first choice is
the superbly refined and intensely passionate account from the Alban
Berg Quartet augmented by cellist Heinrich Schiff. This was recorded
in 1982 at Seon, Switzerland on EMI Classics (5 66890 2). Next the
alert and sensitive account from the Takács Quartet assisted
by the same additional cellist Miklós Perényi recorded
in 1991 at Crouch End, London for Decca. The Lindsay Quartet with the service of extra
cellist Douglas Cummings offer an intense 1985 account that gives
a realistic sense of a live performance that has been re-issued on
Sanctuary Classics Resonance. I found it hard not to be moved by
the splendidly played and expressive 2007 Berlin account from the
Artemis Quartet bolstered by the services of cellist Truls Mørk
on Virgin Classics. In addition there is the impressively
played and highly passionate account by the Belcea Quartet with cellist
Valentin Erben recorded in 2009 at Potton Hall, Suffolk for EMI Classics.
I enjoyed this performance of the C major Quintet from
Kuss Quartet and Miklós Perényi. They come across as
a highly committed group playing the work with evident integrity.
However, when comparisons are done with some of the many excellent
alternative accounts the differences in performance excellence become
apparent and here the Kuss struggle. Compared to the Alban Berg with
Schiff the Kuss do not display the same level of expressive power,
security of control and sheer weight of sound. The disparity is especially
marked in the massive opening movement Allegro ma non troppo
where the Kuss cannot match the Berg’s indescribable beauty
contrasted with the impressive dramatic tension. The substantial Adagio,one
of the glories of all chamber music, although creditably done does
not convey the intense depth of emotion to the same extent. More fluidity
is needed in the Scherzo and the Finale: Allegretto
is certainly not played as tidily as I had expected. Recorded for
radio broadcast in 2012 at the Leonhard-Gläser Saal der Siegerlandhalle,
Siegen the Kuss sound quality is acceptable without being as satisfying
overall as any of the competing accounts mentioned above.
Michael Cookson
Masterwork Index: Schubert
string quintet
