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Budapest
Quartet with Alfred Hobday:
Josef Roismann, violin Alexander
Schneider, violin
Boris Kroyt, viola Alfred
Hobday, viola
Mischa Schneider, cello
Recorded
on 8th February, 1937, Abbey Road, London
Issued as HMV DB.3143-5
Matrix Numbers: 2EA.4803-8, takes: all 1st except side 3, take 2.
Download ID: 227850, 434947
(Duration
24'58")
Play
sample movement:
The
Budapest Quartet with help play both quintets with splendid elan
and lean textures and far outclass their late 1950's remake...
- Bill Rosen
Brahms'
first String Quintet, written in 1882, shows the composer in his mature
period finally feeling comfortable in tackling a genre he had previously
avoided, confident that he need not feel daunted by the perfection of
Mozart's great quintets. Somewhat inexplicably this particular work, which
is a personal favourite of mine, has proved to be one of the composer's
least popular chamber works.
Brahms
himself would also be surprised to find this - at the time it was one
of his own personal favourites, telling his publisher, Simrock, "You
have never before had such a beautiful work from me", and writing
to Clara Schumann he stated it to be "one of my finest works".
The Budapest
Quartet, augmented by violist Hans Mahlke, had previously recorded the
Second Quintet (PACM041) in Berlin. For this
recording, made five years later, they had the talents of Alfred Hobday
and the HMV engineers at Abbey Road studios to assist them. This later
recording sounds closer and more up-front than the earlier one, recorded
in the Beethovensaal, and it will be a matter of personal preference as
to which better suits your tastes. There is certainly more detail to be
heard in this recording, but perhaps at times at the expense of a more
well-rounded overall texture.
REVIEW
OF Brahms: Quintet #1 (Budapest Quartet, Hobday) (1937) and
Quintet #2 (Budapest Quartet, Mahlke) (1932)
Johannes
Brahms write 24 chamber music works, all of them masterpieces,
but not of equal popularity. Among those that are rarely heard
are the two string quintets. I have never heard either of
them in concert and there are relatively few recordings. At
least a partial explanation of the obscurity of the the F
Major (#1) is that it has an unconvential finale filled with
rigorous counterpoint. For the G Major (#2), there is no explanation;
it is a brilliant, sunny work filled with melody. The Budapest
Quartet with help play both quintets with splendid elan and
lean textures and far outclass their late 1950's remake for
Columbia.
String
Quintet #1
In
1882, while spending the summer at his favourite health resort,
Bad Ischl, Brahms completed his 1st String Quintet and despatched
it to his publisher Simrock (as well as the Piano Trio Op.87)
with the message, ‘I tell you, you have not ever had
anything so good from me, nor perhaps published in the last
ten years’. The Budapest open rather vigorously, but
mellow for the second theme. Their playing makes the development
very clear as Brahms subjects his exposition themes to a complex
but lively development. The recapitulation begins fortissimo
instead of piano as at the beginning.
The
second movement is a 5-part structure with a sustained opening
part followed by a slow and then a fast scherzo. The third
and final movement is rather unusual. It begins in a strict
fugal fashion followed by a more lyrical second theme. But
the whole movement buzzes with contrapuntal ingenuity.
The
reprocessing is not one of Pristine Audio's miracles, but
it is more than adequate to allow appreciation of the wonderful
music and performance.
String
Quintet #2
Brahms’
Second String Quintet was also composed at Ischl, 8 years
later in the summer of 1890. Brahms intended it as his swansong,
saying "I have worked enough; now let the young fellows
take over".
Brahms
was only 57 when he wrote this Quintet, and it sounds like
anything but a swansong. It is a mature, lively work written
by a composer at the height of his powers. It was not to be
his chamber music swansong; he later discovered the great
clarinettist, Richard Muhlfeld, and went on to write four
works for him: the Clarinet Quintet, the Clarinet Trio and
two Clarinet Sonatas.
The
Second Quintet is a thrilling, ebullient four-movement work.
The Budapest plays the scintillating opening with great panache:
the theme in the cello and violas with the violins creating
great excitement with high arpeggios and trills. There is
slowing and mellowing for the winsome second theme. The Budapest
make the development clear as Brahms undertakes a forthright
and lean workingout. There are distant modulations and the
recapitulation ends as it began with the high violin tumult.
A
somber, ethereal slow movement is ABA form consists of a sustained
opening section interspersed with a more lively variant. The
third movement is one of those Brahms slow intermezzi that
stands in place of a scherzo. A fast, brilliant finale begins
with rapid viola figurations leading to a stalwart tutti.
and an exposition rich with themes. The development is powerfully
driven yet graceful. An even faster, light, folkish coda ends
the work.
The
Budapest with Malke play this sunny, wonderful work to a turn
and the reprocessing has produced sound that seems scintillating
for its age.
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The
Budapest Quartet with help play both quintets with splendid elan
and lean textures and far outclass their late 1950's remake...
