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For over a third of the last century, the Amadeus Quartet delighted audiences throughout the world, and set the benchmark of performance against which later generations of chamber musicians are judged.
This 7CD set contains their early recordings made for the Westminster label, as well as those made for HMV/EMI and others. The repertoire is Haydn, Schubert, Brahms – composers they were always associated with, and (a rarity) the only recording they made of Mendelssohn.
The Amadeus Quartet made their London debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1948. Vaughan Williams and Myra Hess supported them. The concert was a great success, and they were soon in the recording studios and being hailed by the late Paul Hamburger as ‘one of the leading quartets of Europe’.
This set charts the remarkable rise of one of the most famous quartets of all time. ‘The Amadeus Quartet’ wrote the critic Conrad Wilson in The Scotsman in 1964, ‘is like Herbert von Karajan – so perfect a musical machine, so smooth, so effortless, so beautifully balanced that people are forever condemning it for its virtues…’
Comparatively little of the quartet’s large catalogue is available toda: this release fills a major gap in the catalogue.
‘Haydn’s Seven Last Words is very fine indeed, poised and deeply felt…..the closing Presto is a really ferocious rendition’ (Gramophone)
‘Death and the Maiden’ has real gusto (Gramophone)
Track listing:
CD 1:
Joseph Haydn
STRING QUARTET
in F major Op. 3 No. 5 “Serenade” Hob III:17
1. Presto 3:53
2. Andante cantabile 3:48
3. Menuetto 3:03
4. Scherzando 2:45
Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze
The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross
Op. 51, Hob III:50-56
5. Introduzione, maestoso ed adagio 6:06
6. Largo: Pater, dimitte illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt 8:16
7. Grave e cantabile: Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso 6:11
8. Grave: mulier, ecce filius tuus 7:30
9. Largo: Deus meus, utquid dereliquisti me? 5:46
10. Adagio: Sitio 6:12
11. Lento: consummatum est 5:37
12. Largo: In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum 9:53
13. Presto e con tutta la forza: Il terremoto 1:46
CD 2:
Joseph Haydn
STRING QUARTET in G major Op. 54 No. 1
1. Allegro con brio 5:46
2. Allegretto 6:44
3. Menuetto 4:11
4. Finale, presto 4:05
STRING QUARTET in C major Op. 54 No. 2
5. Vivace 5:32
6. Adagio 3:30
7. Menuetto 3:44
8. Adagio-presto 5:46
STRING QUARTET in B flat major Op. 64 No. 3
9. Vivace assai 6:08
10. Adagio 5:53
11. Menuet 4:24
12. Finale, allegro con spirito 4:00
CD 3:
Joseph Haydn
STRING QUARTET in C major Op. 74 No. 1
1. Allegro 5:01
2. Andantino 5:19
3. Menuet 3:51
4. Finale, vivace 5:36
STRING QUARTET in G minor Op. 74 No. 3 “The Rider” (Reiterquartett)
5. Allegro 3:34
6. Largo assai 6:21
7. Menuet 3:35
8. Finale, allegro con brio 5:47
STRING QUARTET in G major Op. 77 No. 1
9. Allegro moderato 5:47
10. Adagio 5:50
11. Menuet 4:05
12. Finale, presto 4:04
STRING QUARTET in B flat major Op. 103
13. Andante grazioso 5:33
14. Menuetto 5:33
CD 4:
Franz Schubert
STRING QUARTET in E flat major Op. posth. 125 No. 1, D87
1. Allegro moderato 6:15
2. Scherzo, prestissimo 5:45
3. Adagio 1:40
4. Allegro 5:26
STRING QUARTET in B flat major D112
5. Allegro ma non troppo 9:36
6. Andante sostenuto 7:44
7. Menuetto, allegro 5:06
8. Presto 3:53
Felix Mendelssohn
CAPRICCIO in E minor Op. 81
9. Andante con moto-allegro fugato 5:24
CD 5:
Franz Schubert
STRING QUARTET in A minor D804 “Rosamunde”
1. Allegro moderato 9:32
2. Andante 7:13
3. Menuetto, allegretto 6:49
4. Allegro moderato 7:14
STRING QUARTET in G major Op. Posth. 161 D887
5. Allegro molto moderato 15:25
6. Andante un poco moto 11:58
7. Scherzo, allegro vivace 6:19
8. Allegro assai 9:17
CD 6:
Franz Schubert
STRING QUARTET in D minor D810
“Der Tod und das Mädchen” (Death and the Maiden)
1. Allegro 11:13
2. Andante con moto 14:06
3. Scherzo, allegro molto 3:35
4. Presto 8:13
QUARTETTSATZ in C minor D703
5. Allegro assai 8:31
Johannes Brahms
STRING QUARTET in C minor Op. 51 No. 1
6. Allegro 8:15
7. Romanze, poco adagio 7:05
8. Allegretto molto moderato e comodo 9:53
9. Allegro 5:35
CD 7:
Johannes Brahms
STRING QUARTET in A minor Op. 51 No. 2
1. Allegro non troppo 8:50
2. Andante moderato 9:08
3. Quasi minuetto, moderato 5:08
4. Finale, allegro non assai 6:31
STRING QUARTET in B flat major Op. 67
5. Vivace 7:23
6. Andante 7:12
7. Agitato 7:29
8. Poco allegretto con variazioni 9:04
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