Also see: Getting Hooked on Chamber Music--part 1 (Apr. 1970)
The Mozart piano quartets, indispensable to any chamber music collection, have never been poorly done. The Odyssey mono disk with George Szell as the keyboard companion of three-fourths of the Budapest Quartet ca. 1946 is as admirable for its realization of the good humor in K. 493 as for its aristocratic understatement of the pathos in K. 478. The Budapest's stereo remake with Mieczyslaw Horszowski on Columbia MS-6683 has far less magic, but it is first-choice among stereo editions.
A worthy companion in every way, to the Beethoven trio in the same key ( the Archduke), the Schubert Trio in B-flat is one of that prolific master's most inspired compositions, as rich in fine tunes as the Trout Quintet, but more volatile in its outpouring of them. The remarks on the recordings of the Archduke may be precisely duplicated in the case of Schubert's Opus 99: the Suk Trio's discontinued Crossroads (22 16 0158, with the lovely Notturno, Op. 148, as filler) ought to be checked on while copies are still to be found, but the impeccable Istomin-Stern-Rose performance on Columbia is the best of those in the current Schwann, recommended either on the single disk in our list or in the bargain-priced album with the Archduke et al. (See above for details of that set and the RCA album of the same material played by Rubinstein, Heifetz and Feuermann.) "Delicious" is really not a bad word for Mozart's Oboe Quartet, which is as unpretentious, unprofound, and thoroughly delightful as music can be ( and as challenging for the oboist). If memories of the old Columbia 78s with Leon Goossens and members of the Lener Quartet have not been entirely effaced, there are nevertheless several splendid accounts of this work in the current Schwann, including two with the New York Philharmonic's Harold Gomberg, one by his brother Ralph of the Boston Symphony, and one with the Chicago Symphony's Ray Still. If couplings were to dictate one's choice, first consideration would have to be given Andre Lardrot on Vanguard VSD-2074 (oboe concertos by Mozart, Handel and Albinoni) or Ray Still on Concert-Disc CS-204 ( the Mozart Horn Quintet, with John Barrows and the Fine Arts Quartet). However, the most enchanting performance is clearly the stereo remake by Harold Corn berg, packaged with the Britten works on Vanguard/Cardinal. One of Gomberg's own paintings, by the way, is reproduced on the cover of the disk.
Beethoven's Opus 25 Serenade is not dissimilar to the Mozart Oboe Quartet in spirit, but is more varied in its moods, with less of a pastoral character. It is Beethoven in his lightest vein. The Philips recording listed is probably the most stylish performance available in stereo, but there is nothing lacklustre about any of the others, and if stereo is not a must the old Decca mono with Julius Baker still has a unique charm about it as well as the strongest companion piece in the form of the String Trio in C minor (DL 9574). It might be noted, too, that RCA's three-disk miscellany with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players (LSC-6167) includes both the Beethoven Serenade and the Mozart Oboe Quartet.
There are many who venerate Beethoven's Opus 131 Quartet as the supreme achievement in the art of music, and it cannot be denied that even today it has a visionary quality about it. This is profound music, without question, but it also happens to be a compelling listening experience-not so much "easy to listen to" as simply impossible to resist as the sometimes quirky, sometimes sublime passages come tumbling out after each other through its irregular seven-movement sequence. Neither of the Budapest Quartet versions available now comes up to the standard set by that group in an earlier recording, deleted more than fifteen years ago. The most gripping performance on records now is the one by the reliable and frequently inspired Fine Arts Quartet, which also happens to be the cheapest, it is recommended as a single disk or as part of the five-record set of all the late quartets (Opp. 127, 130, 131, 132 and 135, plus the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, in SP-502), but not in the nine-disk Everest album of all the Beethoven quartets.
The new RCA set of the late quartets by the Guarneri Quartet (VCS-6418) is also an exceptional release, offering exalted performances and superior sound at roughly half the regular Red Seal price.
Schubert's unearthly Cello Quintet is another of the pinnacles of chamber music, a shrine at which musicians and laymen alike are content to worship. It has been singled out by an astonishing number of cognoscenti as the music to which they would like to be laid away.
The two recordings from Vienna offer the most interesting performances now. The one in our list (with Willi Boskovsky as leader) has both style and soul, is splendidly recorded, and comes with the pleasant if inconsequential string trio as a bonus. The twenty-year-old Westminster mono with the Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet and Günter Weiss (XWN-18265) presents a more self-indulgent approach, lingering more over the unspeakably beautiful themes without running to excess, and the remastered sound belies its age.
The two string quartets of Charles Ives are characteristic of the composer: rough, craggy, luminous, unequivocally true to the unique path this remarkable creator laid out for himself. There are not only the citations of hymns and patriotic songs one associates with Ives, but, in the Second Quartet, even a reference to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. This music, though, is anything but eclectic. Ives himself described the Second as a string quartet "for 4 men-who converse, discuss, argue (in re ‘politics'), fight, shake hands, shut up-then walk up the mountainside to view the firmament." The approach of the Kohon Quartet on Turnabout and that of the Juilliard Quartet on Columbia MS-7027 could hardly be more contrasted, especially in matters of tempo. Both records are fascinating, but the Kohons seem more attuned to the "rough, craggy" qualities of the material-and the Turnabout price is more attractive.
It has already been observed that not all of Mozart's serenades and divertimenti are classifiable as mere "entertainment music," and the B-flat Serenade is surely one of the most substantial works ever composed for winds. All four of the current recordings are enormously satisfying, the Klemperer version perhaps a bit more than the others.
While most of us think of Shostakovich primarily as a symphonist, it may be that his finest works are in the realm of chamber music. His string quartets now number eleven, and all of them may be had conveniently in two three-disk Seraphim sets (SIC-6034 and 6035), played by the Borodin Quartet, whose magnificent performance of the Piano Quintet leaves no doubt at all as to why this work is regarded as the most beautiful example of chamber music to come from any Soviet composer so far.
The Melos Ensemble, on L'Oiseau-Lyre SOL-267, gets the Quintet on a single side, and the Prokofiev work on the other side of that record ( the Quintet for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, and bass) is a more appealing item than Stravinsky's Three Pieces, but the English group's very good performance is no match for the idiomatic intensity of the Russians on Melodiya/ Angel.
All the familiar Mendelssohnian qualities, elfin and otherwise, are delightfully present in the two quartets played by the Fine Arts on Concert-Disc CS-224. The Canzonetta of the E-fiat Quartet is one of those gems recognized as familiar by thousands who have never knowingly listened to chamber music. Curiously, there is only one other recording now of each of these quartets, and the disk listed here is by all means the best way to enjoy both.
Like the Mozart Serenade cited above Hindemith's utterly different Kleine Kammermusik, a work as saucy as it is brief, has become one of the staples of the wind repertory. The brilliant performance by the New York Woodwind Quintet is clear and away the one to have, and the quintet by Danzi (a contemporary of Beethoven who wrote many wind quintets) provides an interesting contrast.
It is hoped that some or all of the records recommended here will give the newcomer to chamber music some idea of what he has been missing and encourage him toward further exploration on his own. There are many peaks to be scaled, not even hinted at here, and each brings its own unique satisfaction.
20. Mozart: The two Quartets for Piano and Strings. Szell and Budapest. Odyssey mono
21. Schubert: Trio in B-flat, Op. 99. Istomin-Stern-Rose. Columbia
22. Mozart: Oboe Quartet; Britten: Fantasy Quartet, etc. Harold Gomberg, oboe, et al. Vanguard Cardinal
23. Beethoven: Serenade for Flute, Violin and Viola, Op. 25; Serenade for String Trio, Op. 8. Maxence Larrieu, flute; Grumiaux Trio. Philips.
24. Beethoven: Quartet in C# minor, Op. 131. Fine Arts Quartet. Concert–Disc
25. Schubert: Cello Quintet in C. Vienna Philharmonic Quartet with Richard Harand, cello. London.
26. Ives: The two String Quartets. Kohon Quartet. Turnabout.
27. Mozart: Serenade for 13 Winds, K. 361. Klemperer. Angel.
28. Shostakovich: Piano Quintet; Quartet No. 4. Bernathova, Janacek Quartet. Artia
29. Mendelssohn: Quartets Nos. 1 & 4. Fine Arts. Concert–Disc.
30. Hindemith: Kleine Kammermusik; Danzi: Quintet Op. 67/2. New York Woodwind Quintet. Concert-Disc.
(adapted from: Audio magazine, Oct. 1970)
Also see:
Getting Hooked on Chamber Music--part 1 (Apr. 1970)
Remasters of Living Stereo (Aug. 1993)
How to read an orchestral score (Dec. 1972)
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