Alban Berg Quartet: Beethoven – Complete String Quartets (7 CD box set, FLAC)

Performer: Alban Berg Quartet: Valentin Erben, Hatto Beyerle, Thomas Kakuska, Gerhard Schulz
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 7 CD box set
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: EMI Classics
Size: 1.98 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: no

Disc: 1
01. 1. Allegro con brio
02. 2. Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato
03. 3. Scherzo. Allegro molto & Trio
04. 4. Allegro
05. 1. Allegro
06. 2. Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando
07. 3. Adagio molto et mesto / 4. Allegro. Thème russe

Disc: 2
01. 1. Allegro
02. 2. Adagio cantabile
03. 3. Scherzo. Allegro & Trio
04. 4. Allegro molto, quasi presto
05. 1. Allegro con brio
06. 2. Adagio ma non troppo
07. 3. Scherzo. Allegro & Trio
08. 4. Adagio. La Malinconia – Allegretto quasi Allegri
09. 1. Allegretto
10. 2. Vivace
11. 3. Lento assai e cantate tranquillo
12. 4. Grave, ma non troppo tratto – Allegro

Disc: 3
01. 1. Allegro
02. 2. Andante con moto
03. 3. Allegro
04. 4. Presto
05. 1. Allegro
06. 2. Menuetto & Trio
07. 3. Andante cantabile
08. 4. Allegro
09. 1. Allegro con brio
10. 2. Allegretto ma non troppo / 3. Allegro assai vivace, ma serioso
11. 4. Larghetto espressivo – Allegretto espressivo – Allegro

Disc: 4
01. 1. Allegro ma non tanto
02. 2. Scherzo. Andante scherzo quasi Allegretto
03. 3. Menuetto. Allegretto & Trio
04. 4. Allegro
05. 1. Adagio ma non troppo – Allegro
06. 2. Presto
07. 3. Andange con moto, ma non troppo
08. 4. Alla danza tedesca. Allegro assai
09. 5. Cavatina. Adagio molto espressivo
10. 6. Finale. Allegro

Disc: 5
01. 1. Allegro
02. 2. Molto adagio
03. 3. Allegretto
04. 4. Finale. Presto
05. 1. Maestoso – Allegro
06. 2. Adagio ma non troppo, molto cantabile
07. 3. Scherzando vivace
08. 4. Finale

Disc: 6
01. 1. Introduzione. Andante don molto – Allegro vivace
02. 2. Andante con moto quasi allegretto
03. 3. Menuetto. Grazioso & Trio. / 4. Allegro molto
04. 1. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo
05. 2. Allegro molto vivace
06. 3. Allegro moderato
07. 4. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile
08. 5. Presto
09. 6. Adagio quasi un poco andante
10. 7. Allegro

Disc: 7
01. 1. Poco adagio – Allegro
02. 2. Adagio ma non troppo
03. 3. Presto / 4. Allegretto con Variazioni
04. 1. Allegro sostenuto – Allegro
05. 2. Allegro ma non tanto
06. 3. Molto adagio
07. 4. Alla Marcia, assai vivace
08. 5. Allegro appassionato

Simply jaw dropping

The Hungarian Quartet may not be to everyone’s taste and their Beethoven is going to strike some listeners as too vigorous and short-tempered but it kept my attention, much like Schnabel did with the piano sonatas. The Hungarian Quartet’s style of playing is abrupt, by modern standards and often sounds rather impulsive, but they brought to my attention much detail that I never really noticed before. These are good sounding 1953 [mono] studio recordings of the whole Beethoven cycle and they are priceless, especially as it’s out of print once again. I myself, would not want to be without many of these remarkable performances that are simply jaw dropping.

Note: Third Ear “essential listening companion” book called these recordings glorious, and some of the most perceptive readings in the catalog. They also thought the mono sound was quite good.