Customer Reviews

Brahms: String Sextets

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I prefer this recording to the one headed by Isaac Stern. Why? Because Stern and his team deliver an old-fashioned Brahms, with sluggish tempi, little contrast in articulation, and little feel for the subtleties of Brahms's part-writing. L'Archibudelli deliver the exact opposite. It's a pity that too many people still play Brahms as if his music were a reflection of the typical image of the composer as a fat bearded turd. There's a lot more to Brahms than that, and I'm glad that L'Archibudelli make this a point in their recording of the Sextets. Bravo!

This cd brings out some amazing aspects of the Brahms sextets. Brahms playing in general have never been close to this! The instruments are strung with gut strings, as the instruments were at the time it was written, which creates some really unique sounds and gives an amazingly free bowing phrasing. When the steel-string sonorities and the constant vibrato has been removed, a pure and vital sound is created which gives so much to the music of Johannes Brahms, at least in the sextets. I really recommend this cd to anyone who wants to hear something very beautiful and unique! I truly hope this opens up the ears of the public and most important, the musicians, so that we can create new worlds for the music of Brahms and his contemporaries to exist in. And express the music in its own true colours!

Sometimes I am a little bit overwhelmed by the thickness of Brahms's music. Four movements is, for me, sometimes a little like eating four courses of an all-fruitcake meal. This is a great recording to get for those who like their musical meals a little less heavy. You can appreciate the brilliance of Brahms's complex layering without being weighted down by two violins, two cellos, and two violas all going in different directions at once. Each time you listen it is if there is something new to hear. I've never heard (and enjoyed hearing) so much detail before.

Although the artists on the recording are of the highest caliber on this recording and their technique is marvelous, occasional intonation inaccuracies are noticeable. I will go out on a limb and attribute this to the "cleaner" style that L'Archibudelli performs with (more "open" sound, less vibrato). Thus, the minor intonation corrections that are obscured as part of a more "traditional" performers' ubiquitous vibrato sound somewhat awkward. I find this distracting in Brahms.

I applaud the L'Archibudelli ensemble's efforts to bring out more clearly the polyphonic interplay of instruments in these sextets -- it's very much in synch with Brahms' way of thinking about music -- and their brisk tempi. Both are admirable ideas.

The problem is that these performances are inexpressive and sometimes plainly unmusical. I'm laying this squarely at the feet of the 1st violinist in the ensemble (who I believe is Vera Beths). Beths (presumably) is a violinist who plays everything pretty much at the same dynamic and projects little expressivity, which is a killer for such beautiful and heartfelt music as these sextets. The opening violin melody in the 1st movement of Op. 36 is simply mangled -- this performance doesn't make sense of it. And the dramatic opening movement of Op. 18 is played with a metronomic, unvarying beat that completely fails to bring out drama that is so important to it. The accents (sforzandi) are underplayed and underemphasized. They make the Allegro into a kind of saccharine muzak.

I want to praise Anner Bylsma, the star 1st cellist in this ensemble. His playing is very powerful and full of the emotion that seems lacking in manyh other passages. As a result, the performance of the Andante variations from the Op. 18 set -- the most famous track on this disc -- is exciting and sweeping, because the 1st cello has such a big role in it.

To better understand why this CD was just so disappointing, I went back to the old Amadeus Quartet version on DG that I have known for years. The Amadues recording is pretty good but not great or even very good but the musicians make sense of the Op. 36 opening -- it's as if L'Archibudelli, in their performance, were trying to speak a foreign language -- and turn it into a memorable theme.

So an unsatisfactory recording. Especially stay away if you are unfamiliar with this music.

I was surprised at first to see L'Archibudelli had recorded repertoire as late as the Brahms Sextets, but I fell in love with the recording as soon as I heard it. L'Archibudelli gives new life and energy to these chamber pieces: a lighter touch and livelier tempos than the usual rendition of later romantic works. The sextets are simply gorgeous compositions-- some of Brahms's best chamber works. Brahms is able to achieve an orchestral-sized spectrum of textures from the six instruments. I enjoy these especially since they offer a more intimate setting to experience the rich harmonic developments of the late romantics without being overwhelmed by gigantic masses of symphonic sound. The beautiful music married with the perfect sound of L'Archibudelli makes this disk a jewel.

Brahms is a great composer, and these lesser-known pieces of his are done great justice. The musicians play with great precise and seemingly boundless energy and joy.

I don't know much about classical, but I know what I love; and this CD delivers.

I don't care much at all about how "authentic" a performance is (in terms of realising the composer's original sounds) - what matters is whether it is an exciting musical experience. The composer is only one person in the equation. This recording gave me great joy - it was a real revelation to hear how gut strings and this very contemporary way of playing (inspired by old music) brought fresh life into this familiar music. I love the clarity, the glow - I'd love to hear this ensemble play Stravinsky or Michael Nyman.

These works offer the listener a great chance to get to know some of the earlier compositions of the great Johannes Brahms. Both sextets are played in a fine manner, and the delicate yet emotional performances of L'Archibudelli truly expose the splendor of the pieces, and of the musicians themselves. The group produces stunning accounts of the sextets, both in terms of sound, and freshness of interpretation. I highly recommend this recording to anyone who is looking for an introduction to these classic sextets of Brahms, yet desires an original and fluid interpretation.