Yes yes! I rank the No. 15 as one of the greatest pieces I know thus far, listened to so many different ones on RU-vid but can't find any better than this! The recording by Diogenes Quartet comes very close. I've heard the Alban Berg quartet which sounds like the Juilliard.
Thanks for this video and these recommendations from another admirer of Schubert. I know the Death of the Maiden quartet fairly well and have settled on the Alban Berg version as my go-to version, but I will check out these recordings as well. I'm just discovering the Quartettsatz, what an amazing piece.
I collect the late schubert recordings....I have listened to almost all of them. Most are wonderful. And yet, i would like to single out the Emerson box set which includes the string quintet as well.
Gotta agree with you here. I have the Chilingirian and Italiano 4's versions, but the intensity, virtuosity and ensemble je ne sais quoi of the Emersons makes it my #1. The quintet moves like no other interpretation, and the Andante of Death and the Maiden? My God...
I couldn't agree more with the choice of Quartetto Italiano. That's the set i probably turn to more than any other. I know I've heard the Julliard Quartet play this music before, but I don't think it made much impression on me. I prefer them in more modern works (and Beethoven). Still I'll go back and listen to it. The other recordings that I love are by the Takacs Quartet. They recorded 12-15 but I don't think it's ever been boxed up together in a set. The playing is jaw dropping and the recorded sound is impeccable. As you said there are so many great recordings, but I have to mention both the Budapest and Busch Quartets. The sound is pretty grotty for the Busch and not wonderful for the Budapest, either. However, the interpretations are marvelous!
Completely agree, late Schubert, particularly the string quartets, transcend styles prevalent at the time they were written. They're phenomenons all of themselves - ranging from achingly expressive to gaunt spareness, and everything in-between. Maybe I'm wrong but I think it's this is a hallmark of a great composer. Beethoven defies similar categorisation in some of his late works too - think of the Diabeli Variations (the jokey, angular dissonances of Variation 9 for example are really quite extrodinary, and hallariously funny). Staying with the piano, whilst the Hammerklavier is an obvious example of this defying categorisation, even the 30th Sonata is amazing (the theme and variations third movement sounds like a precursor to Chopin and Listz in places). And the Ninth Symphony (I put on a tie to write this) in it's scope and range of emotion just seems cast outside the norm of the time.
Hello Dave! You says that nobody had a more personal musical voice than Beethoven. That is what I also has thought . I would be very interesting if you would consider to make a talk about personal musical voices and what make them more personal than others. Best wishes Fred (sweden)
Get the Emersons. Has the last 3 + the quartettsatz and the quintet (with Rostropovich!). You can't lose with the playing/interpretation, it's widely available and not too $$$.
I am open to correction on this, but I believe that the set of Juilliard String Quartet recordings of Schubert referred to in the video are not the early stereo ones contained in the Sony Juilliard RCA and Epic boxes. I have not heard the later JSQ versions. The earlier Juilliard versions are wonderful and have been hugely acclaimed over the years. Rightly or wrongly, much less is said of the later versions. Any insights into the relative merits of the two sets of late Schubert quartets?
