Bela Bartok: The 6 String Quartets - Emerson String Quartet
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CD Details
Edition: Music CDCD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7: 1. Lento - attacca
- String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7: 2. Poco e poco accelerande all' Allegretto - Introduzione. Allegro 0 attacca
- String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7: 3. Allegro vivace
- String Quartet No. 3: 1. Prima Parte: Moderato - attacca
- String Quartet No. 3: 2. Seconda parte: Allegro - attacca: Ricapitulazione della prima parte; Moderato
- String Quartet No. 3: 3. Coda: Allegro molto
- String Quartet No. 5: 1. Alllegro
- String Quartet No. 5: 2. Adagio molto
- String Quartet No. 5: 3. Scherzo: Alla bulgarese
- String Quartet No. 5: 4. Andante
- String Quartet No. 5: 5. Finale: Allegro vivace
- String Quartet No. 2, Op. 17: 1. Moderato
- String Quartet No. 2, Op. 17: 2. Allegro molto capriccioso
- String Quartet No. 2, Op. 17: 3. Lento
- String Quartet No. 4: 1. Allegro
- String Quartet, No. 4: 2. Prestissimo, con sordino
- String Quartet, No. 4: 3. Non troppo lento
- String Quartet, No. 4: 4. Allegretto pizzicato
- String Quartet, No. 4: 5. Allegro molto
- STRING QUARTET NO. 6: 1. Mesto-piu mosso, pensante - Vivace
- STRING QUARTET NO. 6: 2. Mesto - Marcia
- STRING QUARTET NO. 6: 3. Mesto - Burletta
- STRING QUARTET NO. 6: 4. Mesto
Music reviews of Bela Bartok: The 6 String Quartets - Emerson String Quartet
Music Review: ISLAND GEAR!
Rating: 5 Stars
I have listened to no less than eight different Bartok cycles from all of the top, and not so much, ensembles over the years. I have never had the pleasure to listen to this two grammy winning set. Wow, I can't believe what I was missing; it's like a door has been opened to these masterpieces. I've never heard them played like this, with so much detail, color and awesome DG sound quality. I certainly do not miss the echo that is found on many other recordings that some insist adds depth and ambiance; rather I find it adds annoyance and removes much of the separation of instruments. To each his own. This set has truly made me a happy man, knowing that if I find myself on a deserted island with this set, I will live or die with a smile on my face. Do not hesitate to purchase this set. If for some incomprehensible reason you do not enjoy this recording, I guarantee you that it will make a great, if not life altering, gift to someone with better ears than you. If you are new to this material or have found it hard to digest, then this is the place to start and end for you. Do yourself a favor and order this right now; operators are standing by. Seriously, this recording put the Bartok cycle right up there with Shostakovich for me, which I thought could never ever happen. If you knew how much I revere Shostakovich and his 15 quartets, then you would know that this is bordering on sacrilege. If you won't believe me, remember that this recording won the grammy for best chamber music recording and also best classical album. In addition, read the following review from Gramaphone:
A new cycle of quartets Bartok quartets has to be pretty special if it is to stand out in such select company as the above. The Emerson Quartet's is, and it does. Their nearest counterparts are the Alban Berg on EMI, in that both ensembles are powerful and refined, pay close attention to the letter of the score, and excel in virtuoso teamwork. The differences are that the Emerson are better recorded, are accommodated on two CDs (the Berg are on three), do not suffer from embarrassing mis-readings, show more imagination in countless details and, perhaps surprisingly, outshine their rivals on their 'home territory', namely the virtuosic 'middle' quartets.
The impression one gains from these recordings (I have not seen the Quartet in the concert hall) is of massive tonal projection and superlative clarity, each textural strand coloured and made audible to a degree possibly unrivalled in the recorded history of these works. DG's close brightly-lit, yet never oppressive recording quality must share some of the credit for that, of course. Combine this with controlled vehemence, headlong velocity and razor-sharp unanimity (any fast movement from quartets two to five can serve as illustration) and you have a formidable alliance of virtues.
At the other end of the scale, precision of sonority in a movement like the central night-music of No. 4 is no less remarkable, and attention to details of accent is scrupulous--for example, I wondered whether the first violin had fluffed a couple of 'snapped' pizzicatos in the following movement; in fact he differentiates between snaps with and without sforzando.
It may nevertheless be felt that this imaginative variety of sound is less conspicuous at low dynamic levels and in passages of more or less romantic expressiveness. Indeed, at the outset of No. 1 I suspected this would be as real a deficiency as it is with the Alban Berg--after all this work is supposed to be Bartok's 'funeral dirge' for his romance with Stefi Geyer, not a recreation of its passionate high-points. That suspicion is soon dispelled, however--as soon, in fact, as the viola's appassionato recitative on the third page. It returns, I have to say, in the outer movements of No. 6, where the sense of loss which surely lies behind the music is less fully registered than it might be. Again, others have found more inwardness in the opening of No. 3 and more mystery, astonishment even, in the slow movements of No. 5. Sul tasto 'one-hair-of-the-bow' huskiness may be something the Emerson could afford to deploy a little more daringly.
These reservations are not meant to deter anyone from buying a set which deserves to be hugely successful and which would be a worthy award winner. And I certainly don't want to imply that the performances are inexpressive; on the contrary, they are compellingly intense and passionate, and by no means indiscriminately so. But it would be a pity if the Emerson were to eclipse the rather different merits of the Vegh (Astree Auvidis/Pinnacle) who may not command such a kaleidoscopic range of colour but who conjour up more interesting shadows and probe into more mysterious, intimate corners (the Takacs on Hungaroton/Conifer take a broadly similar approach, without reaching quite the same level of artistry). Presumably DG's commitment to the Emerson means we will have to wait that much longer for the return of the classic Hungarian Quartet recordings to the catalogue, and the famous earlier mono Vegh set on Columbia is no less worthy of reinstatement. But for the moment it is a pleasure to welcome the appearance of what must be one of the most exciting chamber music recordings of recent years.
-- Gramophone [12/1988]
Description of Bela Bartok: The 6 String Quartets - Emerson String Quartet
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.The six quartets of Bartók have been well represented on record, far better than the six of Schoenberg or the fifteen of Shostakovich. The choice on Compact Disc, however, is an easy one, for the Emerson Quartet not only plays the music better than any other ensemble, but gets all six essays onto two discs. Making roses out of what must seem more like a collection of thistles to most others who attempt to play the set, the Emerson players show the kind of ensemble polish that caused one European critic to complain, "too smooth.... I like my Bartók rougher." But awkwardness and rhythmic uncertainty, which have made many a lesser group sound rough in this music, should not be confused with expressive edge, which the Emersons bring to the music in full measure. Their readings are extraordinarily revealing, high-intensity, not at all for the faint of heart. With the odd-numbered quartets on one disc and the even on the other, each CD is a "microcosmos" of the whole set. The sound quality is excellent throughout. --Ted Libbey
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