Tír Na HiFi

Seán wrote:My love affair with Beethoven continues unabated:

Excellent! An LP of the Budapesters playing one of the late quartets was among my earliest record purchases. Fantastic! Must dig it out and give it a spin! The Beethoven quartets are so rich, so full of invention, you could never tire of them!

fergus wrote:

k99_64 wrote:

If you are not a big classical nut then you sure are starting in a fine place there!! I hope that you enjoy it.

Its quite nice, kinda lulls you into a false sense of security then BAM! hammers you with awesome. (i am so young for this forum)

Seán wrote:

That one intrigues me Seán....please let me know how you get on with it in time!

k99_64 wrote: Its quite nice, kinda lulls you into a false sense of security then BAM! hammers you with awesome. (i am so young for this forum)

That just about describes it all right....well done, say it as it is and continue to enjoy!!

some recent releases.

fergus wrote:

Seán wrote:

That one intrigues me Seán....please let me know how you get on with it in time!

Hi Fergus, when it comes to the Beethoven String Quartets I am no expert, far from it in fact. Until this week my only recordings of these works was by the Guarneri String Quartet on the Brilliant Classics label. Now I do like the Guarneri performances.

Last night and today I listened to the String Quartets 1, 2, 3 & 13 (a few times) and the music making is marvelous. To my ear these performances are on a different plane altogether. The recordings were made between 1958 & 1961, they have been beautifuly remastered. There is a cohesiveness and sound from the Budapest that is really impressive, the individual tones particularly of the first violinist are gorgeous. If I were you - and thankfully I'm not [lol] - I'd get the set. It's available on Amazon.fr.
And now should I get the Wand/Bruckner cycle, I wonder?

DaveF wrote:

That one caught my eye Dave!

Seán wrote:Hi Fergus, when it comes to the Beethoven String Quartets I am no expert, far from it in fact. Until this week my only recordings of these works was by the Guarneri String Quartet on the Brilliant Classics label. Now I do like the Guarneri performances.

Last night and today I listened to the String Quartets 1, 2, 3 & 13 (a few times) and the music making is marvelous. To my ear these performances are on a different plain altogether. The recordings were made between 1958 & 1961, they have been beautifuly remastered. There is a cohesiveness and sound from the Budapest that is really impressive, the individual tones particularly of the first violinist are gorgeous. If I were you - and thankfully I'm not [lol] - I'd get the set. It's available on Amazon.fr.
And now should I get the Wand/Bruckner cycle, I wonder?

Thank you for the considered response Seán. I certainly would be tempted there!

In relation to Bruckner/Wand I only have Symphonies 3 & 4 in my collection but I enjoyed them and there are more on my Wish List!

fergus wrote:

Seán wrote:Hi Fergus, when it comes to the Beethoven String Quartets I am no expert, far from it in fact. Until this week my only recordings of these works was by the Guarneri String Quartet on the Brilliant Classics label. Now I do like the Guarneri performances.

Last night and today I listened to the String Quartets 1, 2, 3 & 13 (a few times) and the music making is marvelous. To my ear these performances are on a different plain altogether. The recordings were made between 1958 & 1961, they have been beautifuly remastered. There is a cohesiveness and sound from the Budapest that is really impressive, the individual tones particularly of the first violinist are gorgeous. If I were you - and thankfully I'm not [lol] - I'd get the set. It's available on Amazon.fr.
And now should I get the Wand/Bruckner cycle, I wonder?

Thank you for the considered response Seán. I certainly would be tempted

Fergus, everything that's been said about the Beethoven String Quartets I have to agree with. I have the the Middle and Late Quartets and they are truly magnificent works for all the reasons given above. You will most definitely not be disappointed...

Today's deliveries below.

I have really warmed to Kempff having just purchased his second Beethoven Sonata cycle...it's marvelous. So I had to get his Schubert. In time I will get the Lupu recordings too.



and another Beeethoven Symphony cycle: