Word: beethovens
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...with two more to come (Quintette Boccherini; Angel). All of Haydn's 80-odd Quartets were planned for recording, and 47 were put on vinyl by the Haydn Society before it went down to noble defeat (1955) and had to go out of business. Almost all of Beethoven's chamber music has been recorded and most of Mozart's (good recent Mozart bets: two versions of four gracious, lighthearted Flute Quartets, on Vanguard and Epic, and six String Quintets on Columbia...
...that chamber music is colorless and dull, hear only the scraping of strings. But often there are no strings attached, as in Rossini's racy, unfailingly amusing Quartets for Woodwinds (Period). Many listeners have come to realize that even string works-Schubert's Death and the Maiden, Beethoven's last quartets-can be as poignant as any symphony. In some cases, record buyers have bitten hard at chamber music, e.g., the Westminster version of Schubert's lusciously Viennese "Trout" Quintet sold 100,000 copies in five years and is still going strong; the peppery, well-publicized...
...Beethoven: Trio No. 7-"The Archduke" (Emil Gilels, piano; Leonid Kogan, violin; Mstislav Rostropovich, cello; Monitor). Three virtuosos demonstrate that the Red Russians can do as well as Whites. The players melt their individual talents into a superlative ensemble performance which makes this latest version of an exquisite trio close to irresistible...
...Oistrakhs: Bach's Sonata for Two Violins and Piano, Mozart's Sonata No. 15 for Violin and Piano, Beethoven's Trio No. 9 with Pianist Vladimir Yampolsky, and the Gilels, Kogan, Rostropovich trio; Monitor). Singly and together, papa David and son Igor Oistrakh show that the Russians know how to play Bach and Mozart with purity and cool grace...
...Beethoven: the Late Quartets Nos. 12-16 (Hollywood String Quartet; Capitol, 5 LPs). Despite its frivolous name-its members are movie studio musicians-the Hollywood Quartet is a first-class outfit, and it meets this Everest of chamber music on its own heights. It lacks the bite, power and drive of the Budapest, whose Beethoven performances are unique, but its tone is warmer. In the haunting sighs and groans of the tragic No. 14, the Hollywood dips beneath the surface to the inner life of a matchless work...