Customer Reviews

Brahms: The String Quartets; Dvorák: String Quartet Op. 106

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To the best of my knowledge this 2 CD set of the Brahms string quartets done by the Alban Berg Quartett is of the finest currently available. The players show a balance and timbre that is gorgeous and sumptuous without being overbearing. True panache and class are quite radiant in this recording. For the virtuosic playing it's worth the very reasonable price.

My only reason for a 4-star rating is that the CD set comes without liner notes: a very minor thing when just taking the time to enjoy the music. But for some of us who feel that they need a little background info as to what was going on in the composer's life or perhaps his actual reason for writing the music, it is completely lacking.

Like I said though, it's worth the money you spend for it and I still highly recommend it. You'll just have to find another source to retrieve background info.

Now if only Sony would re-release the Juilliard Quartet performing these same string quartets.

There's no "problem" here, unless the listener is timid. These are gorgeous quartets. Unlike Schubert's beautiful late quartets, the melodic lines in Brahms' quartets are not clean and sharp, but they make up for it with a harmonic richness that is simply intoxicating. In fact, Brahms' innovativeness in the "vertical" element of harmony makes these quartets his most "modern" works, a short step from the early quartets of Bartok and Schoenberg. Such company may put some listeners off, but for me, these Brahms quartets rival Beethoven's.

Over the years, I have collected over 200 recordings of string quartets beginning with LP's, cassettes and finally CD's. These are some of my favorites. A little intro is required.

While going through a "junk" music bin in a pawn shop in the early 80's, I found a cassette of these recordings that contained one of the Brahams (third I believe) paired with the Dvorak. Believe I paid $.25. I had never heard these recordings but upon loading it into a player, I realized that I had found an unexpected treasure. The Brahams was interesting but it was the Dvorak that really caught my attention. In the adagio, the Alban Berg create a special musical moment. It evokes a bittersweet longing and reverie that are uniquely Dvorak. It reminds me of the Adagio captured in the great (and recently reissued) Philips' recording of the Grieg piano concerto performed by BBC / Kovacevich. It is that special.

Fast forward 15 years, Teldec reissued these performances on CD and offered for a bargain price. Needless to say, I did not hesitate to purchase. Previously the Dvorak had been my primary interest but upon hearing the complete set of the Brahams' quartets, I gained a new appreciation for these pieces. Truly masterful performances. I would take the contrary view to one of the other reviewers that the tautness and tension of the performances reveal the true nature of these compositions, showing Brahams at the heights of his powers. Furthermore, these quartets also show a side of Brahams that is sometimes overlooked. Brahams straddled the Romantic period and the coming "modern" era. Yes, Brahams was the quintessential romanticist but in the density and textures found in these pieces, his work was also looking forward to the modern era.

To summarize, these recordings are treasures that offer continued discovery upon repeated listening. Highly, highly, highly recommended.

Brahm's 1st quartet is among the most beautiful, and intimate, works for string quartet. It is markedly distinct from those of Schubert and Beethoven in certain respects, and it is in this that makes it successful. The mood is distilled Brahms, yet we do not find the elemental forces at work here. Instead we find the reflective, particularly in the 3rd movement which is immediately involving and essentially transcendent if you permit my use of such a vague term. The Alban Berg Quartet are very successful in interpreting Brahms here, and they can be recommended without reservation, as can the quartets for any who long for the tranquil genius of Brahms not to be found in his symphonic output.

As much as I love all of Brahms's other chamber music, his three string quartets don't appeal to me. They are bursting at the seams with mediocre ideas that get developed through strenuous contrapuntal invention. They are almost aggressively ambitious. How strange that the composer couldn't find the vein of relaxed melodic genius he struck in his trios, quintets, sectets, and piano quartets, all of which stand higher than the string quartets.

To make the best case for these pieces, the Amadeus Qt. on DG underplays their tense ambitiousness, while the Alban Berg goes for maximum tension. They are ideally suited to turning these quartets being miniature symphonies -- or at least very complex sonatas -- because the ABQ cannot be matched for tonal splendor and larger-than-life sonority. If there's such a thing as aggressive beauty, here it is.

At the ultra-bargain price offered through Amazon Marketplace, I could afford to buy this two-fer (a bare bones porduct with no notes of any kind) for the Dvorako Op. 106 quartet, which follows the famous "American" Quartet in the composer's output. The ABQ attack it with the same virtuosity and outsized sonority, replacing Dvorak's usual geniality with visceral excitement. It's a gripping eprformance on its own terms, but this group became more relaxed in later years, and their Dvorak benefitted from it.

These recordings date from 1975 and 1978, when the ABQ burst like a bombshell on the chamber music scene. They were stunning in every bar of music they played, but their less aggressive persona in live conert from the 80s shows them off better. Teldec's sound is super close and utterly riveting.

I bought this CD for the Alban Berg interpretation of Dvorak Op 106. Many years ago I had taped this work from an Alban Berg concert broadcast by the BBC, & fell in love with it. It's absolutely lovely, emotional, calming music that turned out to be ideal for long car journeys with small children.
I actually prefer the immediacy of the live concert recording to this CD's studio recording. Now if the BBC could be persuated to release that...
The only other performance of the Dvorak that I have found on CD leaves me cold.
*** Why is this superb performance ignored in the CD's contents list? ***