Tír Na HiFi

Seán wrote:

fergus wrote:

The Takác's are not my favourite quartet. Do you like their take on Mozart's quintets?

Thoroughly enjoyable Seán!

Seán wrote:
Joseph Haydn
Symphony no. 6 & 7
Freiburger Barockorchester
Petra Müllejans - directing.

Did you not complete the triptych with Le Soir?

A Flute Concerto, a Clarinet Concerto and a Horn Concerto from Mercadente....

fergus wrote:

Seán wrote:
Joseph Haydn
Symphony no. 6 & 7
Freiburger Barockorchester
Petra Müllejans - directing.

Did you not complete the triptych with Le Soir?

Nah, some other evening perhaps.

I could not do that LOL!!!

Over the course of the weekend and prompted by Jared's recent foray into the world of Dvorak's String Quartets I played through the following set....





This is music that I have not listened to in a while and it is a rich and exciting sound world.

Beethoven op 131
Guarneri Quartet

Along with the Schubert D 960 one of the greatest pieces ever penned.

fergus wrote:Over the course of the weekend and prompted by Jared's recent foray into the world of Dvorak's String Quartets I played through the following set....





This is music that I have not listened to in a while and it is a rich and exciting sound world.

yes, it's the Panocha that I've been listening to... over the past 3 weeks, I've given it a tremendous amount of air time (most evenings) and once again found the experience to be very rewarding. Before commencing, I'm ashamed to say that I only knew the American and the Cypresses. Although listening through them without a break many times over may not be everyone's idea of a listening programme (well, maybe not for Sean '2 out of 3 Haydn Symphonies' Dunne!) but it does help develop an understanding of the development and architectural structure of the pieces. I have found that (to my ears) some of his early SQs are far from simple; indeed, SQ3, written in his late 20's, is quite a beast!

Anyway, both of these sets come with unreserved recommendations throughout from me. It's magnificent to hear a young, high quality SQ from the native homeland of the composer, putting their all into performance, and the nuances are such here that you can pick out the Czech folk-ish undertones that frequent these pieces. Wonderful stuff.



Of course, the downside to this style of listening is that I can go for a long time without posting in this thread... because you don't want to see the same album cover all the time!! The Dvorak SQs however were a major body of work I had set myself the task of introducing myself to this year, and needless to say, the listening goes on, every day!!!

The other project I have ongoing is this magnificent box set of Chopin's complete works. Of course, I'm paying more attention to the repertoire I have not already become acquainted with, but this morning before work, I'm having a brief burst of:

24 Preludes op.28
Rafal Blechacz

Not heard of this pianist before (go on, everyone now tell me he's a household name!!). They aren't quite up there with the Argerich in terms of fluency, but they are sprightly enough performances and certainly enjoyable.

Jared wrote:
Anyway, both of these sets come with unreserved recommendations throughout from me. It's magnificent to hear a young, high quality SQ from the native homeland of the composer, putting their all into performance, and the nuances are such here that you can pick out the Czech folk-ish undertones that frequent these pieces. Wonderful stuff.

I wholeheartedly agree with your comments above Jared in relation to that particular ensemble. I only have the Dvorak set posted above and one other album of Haydn string quartets performed by them but I also think that they are very good. They are energetic and delve into the spirit of the music with uncompromising aplomb.
I also second your recommendations with regard to the value of the Dvorak string quartets as a body of work....they really do bear up to scrutiny and are well worth investigating for those who are not familiar with them.