Beethoven: Complete String Quartets [Box Set] [Box set]

Ludwig van Beethoven (Artist), Quartetto Italiano (Artist), Piero Farulli (Artist), Elisa Pegreffi (Artist), Paolo Borciani (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 16, 1997)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 10
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B0000041LL
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,987 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Musically and technically inspired, October 7, 2000

By 

Donald Scarl (Glen Cove, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beethoven: Complete String Quartets [Box Set] (Audio CD)

I just finished listening to Opus 59 No. 1 and had to write. This is one of the greatest recordings of the one of the greatest quartets played by one of the greatest quartets I have ever heard. Perhaps the greatest. The Quartetto Italiano had the perfect intonation, phrasing, tone, and dynamics that one expects from a modern quartet (they performed from 1945 to 1981), but their musical intelligence, their sense of line, and their intense and continuous concentration was extraordinary. I listened to the great third movement with tears running down my cheeks., I don't remember that happening since a performance by the Tokyo at Caramoor many years ago. The recording is technically perfect, clean and clear with appropriate channel separation. It sounds like four mikes with the mix done by a musical and technical expert. The original recordings were made in Switzerland between 1967 and 1975 and may have been remixed for these CDs. Whoever worked on this Phillips release deserves the thanks of all chamber music fans.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Italian Quartet offer intense lyricism and great depth, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beethoven: Complete String Quartets [Box Set] (Audio CD)

The Beethoven Quartets are a great artistic test for any quartet. No quartet passes it with such ease as the Italian Quartet. In these recordings, they combine both intense beauty, and great depth. They're intonation is faultless, and their unity of purpose complete.

Whilst with playing of such calibre it seems wrong to single any one player out, the playing of cellist Franco Rossi is particularly beautiful.

This quartet are the Murray Perrahias of the quartet world.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, June 17, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beethoven: Complete String Quartets [Box Set] (Audio CD)

I have been listening to this set of the Beethoven quartets since the mid-70's. I never tire of these performances. I have over the years purchased other performances of the Beethoven quartets by the Emerson, Berg, Borodin, and Takacs but the QI's version is the one to which I return. There are no other performances that match the QI's for balance and crispness, detail and passion, And I have always admired Franco Rossi, the cellist, for his wonderful singing tone -- especially in the Op. 59 F maj. I can only agree with the other reviewers praise of the late quartets especially the Op. 132.