Customer Reviews

Hollywood String Quartet

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This CD contains probably the best recordings Hollywood String Quartet ever made. I also think their recordings of these works are the best ever recorded. They perform with gloriously rich, expressive sound and impeccable ensemble. It is refreshing to hear these very Romantic compositions with appropriate sentiment, BUT NOT WITH EXCESS SENTIMENTALITY. The Glazunov especially benefits from this approach (it could easily sound like a parlor music were it played with gushing sentimentality). Tchaikovsky and Borodin are also incomparable. An absolute must for people who like these music. The recording is mono, but it is very high quality. And it really should not matter if the performances are at such exquisite level.

In listening to the Hollywood Quartet's playing of the Borodin Quartet, I felt that this was chamber music playing beyond any criticism. The HSQ capture every nuance of the music with exemplary phrasing and immaculate technique. Although it (like the other works on this disc) was recorded in mono in the fifties, the sound is warm, full bodied and clear. The closest competition in this repertoire would be the excellent Borodin Quartet/EMI version; although this has more modern sound, it is overshadowed by the HSQ.

The generous couplings are equally well played, my only complaint being a slight shrillness in the sound in the first movement of the Tchaikovsky Quartet. The Glazunov, a sentimental salon piece previously unfamiliar to me, is an attractive composition worth investigating. All in all a treasurable disc of Russian chamber music.