Beethoven: The Late String Quartets [BOX SET]

Marc Johnson (Performer), Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Vermeer Quartet (Performer), Bernard Zaslav (Performer), Richard Young (Performer), Pierre Menard (Performer), Shmuel Ashkenasi (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Marc Johnson, Vermeer Quartet, Bernard Zaslav, Richard Young, Pierre Menard, et al.
• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
• Audio CD (April 13, 1993)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 3
• 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: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000000SKL
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #453,871 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The tone of humility, exactly as the Master intended, July 27, 2000

By	Ramon Kranzkuper (Gainesville, FL) - See all my reviews

It is really strange, like one other reviewer said, that the Vermeer Quartet's late quartets recording has been so underreviewed. The question is one of expressivity. Rather, the question should NOT be of expressivity:

There are bound to be two camps of listeners, one that thinks of these quartets as not too different from any other Beethoven quartets, and the other that can see plainly that these five quartets - especially, of course, op. 131, 132 and 130 in that order - are something that are different from all the rest of music.

To the first camp, I would say, go ahead and get any recording currently available - yes, the Lindsays have superb sound and "finish", the Budapest have that typically-Budapest smooth flow, and so on.

But to the other camp - members of which, I hope, this review will be of value to - I must say that ONLY, repeat, ONLY, the Vermeer Quartet plays with that tone that is not merely appropriate, but necessary, for the late quartets. The word I would use to describe that tone is "humility".

In op. 131, for example - when the Master's mystical vision is revealed to Man - only the Vermeer's quiet, unassuming tone, completely devoid of embellishments, gives the impression of a genuine - and a genuinely spiritual - interpretation. In the Heiliger Dankgesang, for example, when the theme returns yet again for the fourth time, it is only in the Vermeer recording that I have perceived that infinite patience.

When power and passion are appropriate - for example, of course, in the last movement of op. 131 - it is ONLY the Vermeer that shows the mature understanding that here, power and passion have been sublimated from the music to the vision.

Unhesitatingly, I would state the Vermeer's performance of the late quartets as the standard, akin to Barenboim for the middle sonatas, or Karajan for the symphonies.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strong endorsement of this set, August 16, 2005

By	G. R. Witterschein (Mendham, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I could not disagree more strongly with the review from "D Fry pianist".

For one thing, the recorded sound is simply fabulous. I will admit right away to being one of the "golden ear-ed few" who will spend more money on his stereo systems that on his car. On my system, about which I will not bore you with the details except to say that it is more expensive than any car I have ever bought, this recording is not only extremely good, but distinguished for the excellence of its sound. Teldec has produced here a set of Beethoven quartets which is as far as I can tell the audiophile sonic champion of string quartet CDs out there in the market today. I would not hesitate to describe it as, sonically, more than twice as good as the EMI sound of the Alban Berg Quartet set the reviewer mentioned. It's possible that D Fry is listening on fairly ordinary audio equipment, on which the superior sonics of the set under review may show up as no more than annoyances -- in other words the sonic excellence of the disk may actually work against it.

As for the performance itself, I think it is a given that the Beethoven late quartets more than perhaps any other works of classical music, are a matter of individual preference. Certainly "D Fry pianist" is entitled to his preferences; I don't share them. I find the Vermeer Quartet's interpretation and execution riveting -- sometimes after listening to a quartet late at night, I find myself emotionally wrung out and exhausted, which is I think as it should be given these works and their unique place in Western musical civilization.

Bottom line: if you're listening on good equipment or good headphones, do not deprive yourself of this extraordinary pleasure! On more ordinary equipment, the Alban Berg Quartet set and the Borodin should do you just fine.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Tis a pity no one has yet reviewed this recording, June 18, 2000

By	Craig Whitney (where I hang my cat.) - See all my reviews

As above, I find it hard to believe no one has yet reviewed the Vermeer Quartet's recording of these works. It is absolutely heartbreaking that such a fine recording should be so unheard.