Product Details

• Format: Classical, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Full Screen, NTSC
• Subtitles: German, English, French
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: EUROARTS
• DVD Release Date: January 27, 2009
• Run Time: 76 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001LKLKKM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,272 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

SCHUBERT/RAVEL:STRING QT IN D MINOR S - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Hagen Quartet Plays Two Very Different Masterpieces, February 23, 2009

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hagen Quartett - Schubert: String Quartet in D Minor "Death and the Maiden"; Ravel: String Quartet in F Major (DVD)

The Hagen Quartet is surely the finest string quartet to come out of Austria since the Berg Quartet. Formed in the early 1980s with four Hagen siblings, second violinist Angelika Hagen dropped out in the late 1980s and was replaced briefly by Annette Bik who was then replaced by the current second violinist, Rainer Schmidt. We see, in this DVD, the quartet in two performances recorded thirteen years apart and with one change of personnel. In 1987 they recorded the 'Death and the Maiden' Quartet of Schubert with Bik, and they recorded the Ravel Quartet in 2000 with Schmidt. It is as if they were two completely different quartets. That may be partly due to the extreme differences between the Schubert and Ravel Quartets. But in the Schubert they play like, dare I say it, a German quartet, and I swear that in the Ravel they sound French. The differences are subtle but real and not entirely due to the change in personnel. But Schmidt is a more refined player than Bik was. And certainly the Quartet have matured in the intervening years between the two recordings. One hears a fineness of tone and dynamics in the Ravel that was not present in the rather less nuanced Schubert. The two performances are recorded in different venues, and that may account for some of the difference in sound.

Be all that as it may, both performances are quite satisfying. The 'Death and the Maiden' is recorded in the splendor of the Baroque Library in Vorau, Austria. The ornate gold and polished wood library with its domed ceiling and five-meter-high bookcases filled with leather-bound books is a visual treat. The musical highlight, if I had to pick one, of the Schubert performance is the second movement's fourth variation with its delicate first-violin tracery floating over hushed fragments of the theme in the other instruments. The tarantella of the final movement comes across as a dance of death, surely what Schubert wanted. (One recalls that the 'tarantella' was originally the dance-unto-death of a tarantula-bitten person.)

The Ravel Quartet was recorded in the Grosser Saal of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, a much plainer but still gorgeous venue. The Quartet's playing here is a lovely combination of classical clarity and impressionistic suggestion. It is astonishing to remember that Ravel wrote the quartet while still at the Paris Conservatoire but that there is absolutely nothing student-like about it. After the vigorous opening movement, the second movement is played pizzicato (as is the second movement of Debussy's single quartet which Ravel had taken as his inspiration and model). One of its felicities is the occurrence of what I've come to think of as its 'simultaneous hemiola' which consists of the first violin and cello playing in 3/4 (three groups of two notes per measure) while the second violin and viola play in 6/8 (two groups of three notes per measure). It is handled by the Hagens with both delicacy and élan. This is followed by the evocative third movement, Très lent, with its episodic construction and varying tempi. The finale is characterized by its Russian feel (just as the second reminds one of Javanese gamelan music) and its 5/8 meter. As in the third movement, Ravel again uses the main theme of the quartet's opening moments. This is a superb performance by the Hagen Quartet, one of the best I've ever heard.

Enthusiastically recommended for the Ravel, only slightly less so for the Schubert.

Scott Morrison

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good overall; Ravel outstanding., July 24, 2010

By 

Ghost(Ghost(M)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hagen Quartett - Schubert: String Quartet in D Minor "Death and the Maiden"; Ravel: String Quartet in F Major (DVD)

The whole thing is good, although the Schubert was recorded a while ago (like fifteen years back) and sports a few "moments" (ahem) with intonation. But the Ravel is current and simply outstanding, marvellous. I have a pile of recordings of this, sublime imo, piece and used to give the top place to the Melos Quartett, but this one is superior. This is a totally exciting record (at least that's how I feel at the moment).

PS. It is also amazing how much the group improved between the two recordings. The second violin is different, but that's not because of it -- they've progressed as musicians and as a group. They are impeccable, unearthly, exact, like a single living entity. I'll cease the hype now, but this DVD is certainly worthwhile.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Youthful exuberance, May 10, 2009

By 

Zarathustra (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Hagen Quartett - Schubert: String Quartet in D Minor "Death and the Maiden"; Ravel: String Quartet in F Major (DVD)

Hagen Quartett - Schubert: String Quartet in D Minor "Death and the Maiden"; Ravel: String Quartet in F Major Have you ever seen a DVD of a string quartet that is not composed of four balding old men looking extremely grave and serious? I didn't think so. Well, you're in for a shock here. Nor only do we have young men here but two, count 'em, two young women performing in the Schubert quartet! And the performances are vigorous and fun to watch. Excellent performances in interesting locations, a hallmark of Euroarts DVDs.