Est 1923

Schubert: String Quartets

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Franz Schubert

Label: Novalis

Media Format: Cassette

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 150 058-4

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden' Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Melos Qt
String Quartet No. 13 Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Melos Qt

Composer or Director: Franz Schubert

Label: Novalis

Media Format: Vinyl

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 150 058-1

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden' Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Melos Qt
String Quartet No. 13 Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Melos Qt

Composer or Director: Franz Schubert

Label: Masters

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 66

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: MCD13

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden' Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
New World Qt
String Quartet No. 9 Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
New World Qt

Composer or Director: Franz Schubert

Label: Hungaroton

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 49

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: HCD31195

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
String Quartet No. 12, 'Quartettsatz' Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Keller Qt
String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden' Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Keller Qt

Composer or Director: Franz Schubert

Label: Novalis

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 75

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 150 058-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden' Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Melos Qt
String Quartet No. 13 Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Melos Qt

Composer or Director: Franz Schubert

Label: Red Seal

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 62

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: RD87990

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden' Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Tokyo Qt
String Quartet No. 4 Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Tokyo Qt

Composer or Director: Franz Schubert

Label: Red Seal

Media Format: Cassette

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: RK87990

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden' Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Tokyo Qt
String Quartet No. 4 Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Tokyo Qt
If Death and the Maiden isn't the most popular of all string quartets, it must be heading in that direction. The current Gramophone Classical Catalogue lists 25 versions—that's more than for any of the Mozart or Beethoven quartets—and now here are four more. Is it time to call a halt? When there are so few recommendable recordings of the equally fine G major Quartet I'm inclined to think that it's time the attention of record companies broadened a little.
All the same, Death and the Maiden is a work that can be viewed from a variety of interpretative perspectives, as two of these new versions demonstrate. The Tokyo and Melos performances are utterly different, but both are strong and offer rewards. Right from the start you know that the Tokyo Quartet's will be a dramatic, fiery reading: there's that hair-raising initial attack, with subsequent loud/soft contrasts powerfully underlined. Each movement has its basic pulse, but within that pulse there's plenty of freedom. I find their affetuoso just a little cloying at times—notably in the Andante's major-key variation—but the trio of the Scherzo has a real lilt: a strong contrast with the biting, vigorous playing immediately before it. And I like the way they evoke the ghost of a dance in the variations—the spectral ballerina effect in Variation No. 1 is genuinely touching.
The Melos version seems to come from the other end of the interpretative spectrum. One admires the control because in places it leads to heightened power—notably the long crescendo to the climax of the Andante, and over long stretches of the finale. There's power and excitement, and nothing cloys. Significantly, the classicizing Melos observe the first movement repeat, while the romantic Tokyo omit it. They are relatively short on tenderness though—a quality which the Tokyo Quartet provide, if occasionally, in excess—and this is more disturbing in the former's coupling, the A minor Quartet, a much more substantial filler than that offered by the Tokyo, but less convincingly played.
Whilst there are slight qualifications about these two Death and the Maidens (though not about the excellent recordings). I greatly prefer them to either of the other two versions. The New World Quartet seem to aim somewhere between the Tokyo and the Melos, but only rarely does their performance approach either in conviction. The closing pages of the finale are quite gripping, but too often there's a studied feeling about their expression, particularly so in the trio of the Scherzo—and the lack of polish at the climax of the Andante is temporarily unsettling; the recording is rather dry. As for the Keller (not the old Keller Quartet who recorded Bruckner for Oryx in 1970, but a new group founded in 1986), they sound more reticent than any of their competitors, and despite good ideas, the lack of communicated intensity gives stretches of the work a debilitated quality—especially so in parts of the Andante.
In the final reckoning, I don't feel that either the Tokyo or the Melos are strong enough to supplant either the intensely dramatic Lindsay Quartet on ASV or the more aristocratic Quartetto Italiano (Philips)—a generous and very satisfactory mid-price disc. And then there's the 1936 Busch version on EMI, coupled with what is still by far the finest version of the great G major Quartet—that has to be my final recommendation.'

Schubert: String Quartets

String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden'

String Quartet No. 13

Schubert: String Quartets

String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden'

String Quartet No. 13

Schubert: String Quartets

String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden'

String Quartet No. 9

Schubert: String Quartets

String Quartet No. 12, 'Quartettsatz'

String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden'

Schubert: String Quartets

String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden'

String Quartet No. 13

Schubert: String Quartets

String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden'

String Quartet No. 4

Schubert: String Quartets

String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden'

String Quartet No. 4

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