Lener Quartet Beethoven

[Andrew Rose]

Just trying to find some information on these - I'm currently dabbling
with the Lener Quartet's Beethoven Op 18 No 5 (A major) in a recording I
believe dates from 1936 (Columbia LX.611-3)

Hunting around the net I'm not exactly tripping over references to it -
anybody got any comments or info?

--
Andrew Rose - Pristine Classical

The online home of Classical Music: www.pristineclassical.com

[rkhalona]

Search this newsgroup; there have been several threads here that have
been discussed through the years. The cycle was reissued on CD in
Japan by EMI. No idea if they are still in print.

RK

[Andrew Rose]

Andrew Rose wrote:
> Just trying to find some information on these - I'm currently dabbling
> with the Lener Quartet's Beethoven Op 18 No 5 (A major) in a recording I
> believe dates from 1936 (Columbia LX.611-3)
>
> Hunting around the net I'm not exactly tripping over references to it -
> anybody got any comments or info?
>

I've also dug out their earlier (1926?) Op 18 No 4, which in some
respects sounds cleaner, if in more a dated sound, than my Op 5 discs on
first listen. I know I've got at least one more of their Beethovens
stashed away somewhere - their 'Harp' - not sure without a hunt whether
it's the earlier or later incarnation.

Any takers for the Leners?

[Andrew Rose]

I found some discussion shortly after posting the above. Did anyone get
the Japanese sets? There did seem a degree of frustration about them not
being more widely available, and overall not that much comment...

[rkhalona]

Henry Fogel reported on the Japanese reissues. See the following
threads

http://tinyurl.com/2mnafx

http://tinyurl.com/2rxzg9

I've just checked hmv.co.jp and the set seems to be OOP.

RK

[rkhalona]

Speaking of the Lener Quartet, there are some recordings available on
the Rockport label that include some acoustic Haydn quartets.
See http://tinyurl.com/2ns568
Can anyone report on the quality of the transfers on this label?

RK

[Andrew Rose]

Thanks for those - I think I'll press on with them!

[harpsichordian]

> Seehttp://tinyurl.com/2ns568

> Can anyone report on the quality of the transfers on this label?

I found them highly satisfactory. There are five releases (all of
which Berkshire carries, as your link shows). When Rockport started
the series they envisioned transferring the Lener Quartet's complete
recordings on nearly 30 CDs but the project, unfortunately, appears to
have stalled.

Best wishes,
Bryan Bishop

[Andrew Rose]

I've more or less finished the A major, Op. 18 No. 5, and will have it
online shortly. Next up is probably the Harp, and then I may tackle the
Grosse Fuge, if I can overcome a crack in the first disc.

[Matthew B. Tepper]

"harpsichordian" <bryan...@juno.com> appears to have caused the
following letters to be typed in
news:1171378797.8...@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups.com:

> When Rockport started the series they envisioned transferring the Lener
> Quartet's complete recordings on nearly 30 CDs but the project,
> unfortunately, appears to have stalled.

Hasn't Opus Kura got its own Lener Quartet series?

--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Harrington/Coy is a gay wrestler who won't come out of the closet

[tomdeacon]

Alas.

I have tried in vain to find out the responsible party for Rockport.
At one time I thought it was a Jewish rabbi or cantor. Still don't
know for sure. But the series seems completely defunct.

TD

[makropulos]

On Feb 13, 3:39 pm, "Matthew B. Tepper" <oyþ@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Hasn't Opus Kura got its own Lener Quartet series?
>
> --
> Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!

> My personal home page --http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
> My main music page ---http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html

> To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
> Harrington/Coy is a gay wrestler who won't come out of the closet

If they did, they don't seem to have any more - there's the Opus Kura
Capet Quartet discs in their catalogue but no Lener.
(http://www.opuskura.com/cat_instrumental_e.htm)

[Steve Emerson]

In article <1171320268....@m58g2000cwm.googlegroups.com>,
"rkhalona" <rkha...@hotmail.com> wrote:

For the Lener, quite good. I wouldn't hesitate.

SE.

[tomdeacon]

On Feb 12, 4:51 pm, Andrew Rose <and...@pristineaudio.com> wrote:

> I found some discussion shortly after posting the above. Did anyone get
> the Japanese sets?

Yes. Several years ago. Tower Picadilly.

>There did seem a degree of frustration about them not
> being more widely available, and overall not that much comment.

Well, you'll understand if I am not frustrated.

As for comments: they are very much a period piece. For those that
like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.

I like them.

TD

[rkhalona]

On Feb 13, 10:53 am, Steve Emerson <eme...@nospamsonic.net> wrote:

>
> > Speaking of the Lener Quartet, there are some recordings available on
> > the Rockport label that include some acoustic Haydn quartets.

> > Seehttp://tinyurl.com/2ns568

> > Can anyone report on the quality of the transfers on this label?
>
> For the Lener, quite good. I wouldn't hesitate.
>

Thanks to you and Bryan Bishop. I've ordered all five Lener CDs.

RK

[Andrew Rose]

Don't let me stand in your way then...

http://www.pristineclassical.com/LargeWorks/Chamber/PACM049.php

The first of at least several. ;-)

[tomdeacon]

On Feb 13, 10:24 am, Andrew Rose <and...@pristineaudio.com> wrote:

> I've more or less finished the A major, Op. 18 No. 5, and will have it
> online shortly. Next up is probably the Harp, and then I may tackle the
> Grosse Fuge, if I can overcome a crack in the first disc.

The Japanese CDs have no such flaw.

You will find that most, if not all, of the good pressings of 78 RPM
recordings now reside in the hands of Japanese collectors. For decades
they have been combing the used 78 RPM stores, paying high prices, and
walking away with the best of the best. These are usually the sources
used by such enterprises as the Lener Quartet Beethoven cycle, which
have ben deservedly praised upon release in these pages.

TD

[tomdeacon]

On Feb 13, 5:11 pm, Andrew Rose <and...@pristineaudio.com> wrote:
> tomdeacon wrote:
> > On Feb 12, 4:51 pm, Andrew Rose <and...@pristineaudio.com> wrote:
>
> >> I found some discussion shortly after posting the above. Did anyone get
> >> the Japanese sets?
>
> > Yes. Several years ago. Tower Picadilly.
>
> >> There did seem a degree of frustration about them not
> >> being more widely available, and overall not that much comment.
>
> > Well, you'll understand if I am not frustrated.
>
> > As for comments: they are very much a period piece. For those that
> > like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.
>
> > I like them.
>
> Don't let me stand in your way then...

You were in my way?

TD

[Bud Gilmore]

Does anyone know where I could find the Lener Qt recordings of the
complete Beethoven cycle?

I've read here about the Rockport release, but that seems to be no
longer available. Also read about a release by Japanese EMI. But I
can't find any Japanse web site in English, so I don't know if any of
those are still available, or how to buy them.

Any information about other recordings by the Lener would also be
welcome. I currently have recordings of the Lener playing the Brahms
quartets and clarinet quintet, as well as a few various Beethoven late
quartets and 2 of the op59s.

Thanks,
Bud Gilmore

[Steve Emerson]

In article <2013010919210028582-budgilmore@rcncom>,

Bud Gilmore <budgi...@rcn.com> wrote:

> Does anyone know where I could find the Lener Qt recordings of the
> complete Beethoven cycle?
>
> I've read here about the Rockport release, but that seems to be no
> longer available. Also read about a release by Japanese EMI. But I
> can't find any Japanse web site in English, so I don't know if any of
> those are still available, or how to buy them.

HMV.co.jp only lists one disc as current, with Op. 74, on Greendoor.

http://tinyurl.com/a49q7k7

It also looks like you can buy a transfer of that and one Op 18 quartet
from Pristine Classical:

http://www.pristineclassical.com/LargeWorks/Chamber/PACM050.php

A sample movement can be heard there.

> Any information about other recordings by the Lener would also be
> welcome. I currently have recordings of the Lener playing the Brahms
> quartets and clarinet quintet, as well as a few various Beethoven late
> quartets and 2 of the op59s.

Besides the Brahms you mention, I have three of the Rockports:

Haydn Op 76 excerpts (76/3, 76/2, and two recordings of 76/5)
Mozart (Oboe Quartet with Goosens; Quintet K. 516); and K. 458) and
Schumann/Schubert (Schubert Octet, Schumann 41/3)

The Haydn is my favorite. The school-of-Hubay vibrato is occasionally
wearying on my ears anyway, e.g. in the Schumann and sometimes Brahms.

SE.

[Steve Emerson]

PS: Try a Google search for Lener Quartet blog download. Among other
things you should find this from the estimable Harpsichordean:

http://tinyurl.com/b9l6oue

Op 131. The Mediafire link still works.

SE.

[dle...@gmail.com]

The Rockport sets were transferred by David Lennick, who does excellent work. But the Rockport label was headed by Pharrel Wenner, a legendary and controversial figure in classical reissues. He ran out of money before producing the whole Lener set, and that was that. UD

[dle...@gmail.com]

Thanks for quoting my article, Andrew! UD

[DF]

The Schubert octet, mentioned by Steve, is a particular favorite of
mine. It was reissued by Rockport and Andanted (Schubert Chamber Music
collection); both transfers very well done and both oop. Copies listed
by amazon sellers command fairly high prices.
/Daniel

[Alan Cooper]

DF <danielf...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:d8540305-d853-4d17...@c14g2000vbd.googlegroups.com:

The Rockport Schubert was valuably couple with Schumann 41/1. In addition
to the Rockports already mentioned, there also was a Dvorak disc coupling
the op. 51 Quartet + the Piano Quintet w/Olga Loeser-Lebert, the same
pianist as in the Brahms available at musicparlour (thanks for the
pointer!). Iirc, the Brahms was scheduled to be the next release on
Rockport after the Dvorak, c/w the Schumann Piano Quintet, but it never
actually appeared. Too bad the complete Lener project was scuttled for
lack of money, but it was a quixotic venture to begin with. The Dvorak
performances, btw, are quaint and of historical interest only. The
recordings that still hold up well imo are the Mozart Oboe Quintet with
Goossens, some of the Haydn, the Brahms Clarinet Quintet with Draper, and
especially the Schubert Octet.

AC

[Dontait...@aol.com]

On Monday, February 12, 2007 3:33:50 PM UTC-6, Andrew Rose wrote:
> Just trying to find some information on these - I'm currently dabbling
> with the Lener Quartet's Beethoven Op 18 No 5 (A major) in a recording I
> believe dates from 1936 (Columbia LX.611-3)
>
> Hunting around the net I'm not exactly tripping over references to it -
> anybody got any comments or info?
>

> --
> Andrew Rose - Pristine Classical
>
> The online home of Classical Music: www.pristineclassical.com

Try The Gramophone Magazine. I have not checked my personal index of it, but they probably had articles about the Quartet from about 1924 onward.

Don Tait

[CharmNick]

Pretty definitive:

Tully Potter 'Léner's Rise and Fall', Classic Record Collector, Vol.9 No.33 (Summer 2003), pp.22-31

Nick

[Al Eisner]

Berkshire lists a Pearl CD containing a Brainy (in fact, two-Brain'd)
performance of Mozart's K334 with the Lener Quartet. The CD also
includes Aubrey in Mozart piano/wind quintet and one horn concerto.
I've not heard it, but it sounds really intersting. Anyone know it?
(Just please don't call it a no-brainer!)
--

Al Eisner

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Al Eisner <eis...@slac.stanford.edu> appears to have caused the following

letters to be typed in

news:alpine.LRH.2.00.1...@iris02.slac.stanford.edu:

I have it on EMI CDM 64198. It's okay.

--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!!
Read about "Proty" here: http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/proty.html

To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion

Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employers.

[gggg gggg]

On Monday, February 12, 2007 at 1:33:50 PM UTC-8, Andrew Rose wrote:
> Just trying to find some information on these - I'm currently dabbling
> with the Lener Quartet's Beethoven Op 18 No 5 (A major) in a recording I
> believe dates from 1936 (Columbia LX.611-3)
> Hunting around the net I'm not exactly tripping over references to it -
> anybody got any comments or info?
> --
> Andrew Rose - Pristine Classical
> The online home of Classical Music: www.pristineclassical.com

(Upcoming radio program):

https://www.wfmt.com/2022/10/16/the-first-recordings-of-the-complete-beethoven-quartets-1