Guarneri Quartet Beethoven cycles question (and NYCity concert halls)
Handel8
on RCA, which is well known and still print as a box set and an earlier
one for Philips that was recorded as near I can tell in the late 1980s
and early 90s. Both were done digitally and from what I have heard so
far, the earlier one is superior. On going through various listings, I
can not seem to find any record of there having been a Philips
recording of the Op. 127 quartet. That would be the only quartet that
might be missing from the earlier effort as I see it now. The two
cycles may have almost run back to back, meaning that the second cycle
for RCA may have started shortly after the Philips cycle was finished.
It is also possible, that the Op. 127 may have been issued on LP and
never made it to cd. In any case, the first cycle shopuld be reissued.
The Op. 59 quartets in the Philips cycle was recorded in that
mysterious hall of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Manhattan. I
say mysterious because it is not a hall that is used for public
concerts as far I know. Also, when I was able to find some women to
talk to on the phone connected to the hall and society many years ago
(before 911) just to inquire about the hall and any concerts there, she
was extremely uptight and unhappy at my call. Of course, no real
information was revealed to me and the reason for her attitude still
mystifies me. The mystery deepened further when I learned a few years
later that they evidently were not too uptight about the hall to NOT
allow part of a film to be filmed there with Al Pacino. The film was
"Scent of a Woman" from 1992. ( I suspect this film was done before I
called the Academy. I did see this movieon TV after my phone call,
however.) I saw the movie once and recall the Academy's name came up
in the credits. Part of the film was filmed at a private girls school
in Troy, NY so I am not sure which scenes were filmed inside the
Academy Hall if any. The location details of this movie are here:
http://amazon.imdb.com/title/tt0105323/locations
The name of the Academy does not show up here, for some reason.
The one hall at Emma Willard school in Troy that is used for concerts
in recent years does not match what I saw in the movie. That I can
state from personal experience.
The Academy hall has been used for recordings many times that I can see
where location is credited and probably many more than that that are
not credited. It seems to be a fine hall for recording classical
music.
By the way, what ever happened to Webster Hall in Manhattan? It
had been used by RCA a few times for Handel recordings in the 1966
period- Messiah with Robert Shaw and the Op. 6 concerti grossi with
Alexander Schneider and his orchestra. From what I have seen, it was
also frequently used as a concert hall in the distant past.
Alan Prichard
Steve Emerson
"Handel8" <ala...@nycap.rr.com> wrote:
> It appears that the Guarneri Quartet recorded two Beethoven cycles- one
> on RCA, which is well known and still print as a box set and an earlier
> one for Philips that was recorded as near I can tell in the late 1980s
> and early 90s.
Which makes it a later one. The RCA cycle is from the '60s.
> Both were done digitally
The RCA may be ADD (vs. AAD) but it is by definition an analog recording.
> and from what I have heard so
> far, the earlier one is superior. On going through various listings, I
> can not seem to find any record of there having been a Philips
> recording of the Op. 127 quartet. That would be the only quartet that
> might be missing from the earlier effort as I see it now. The two
> cycles may have almost run back to back, meaning that the second cycle
> for RCA may have started shortly after the Philips cycle was finished.
> It is also possible, that the Op. 127 may have been issued on LP and
> never made it to cd. In any case, the first cycle shopuld be reissued.
Here I think you must mean the Philips cycle, since you state up top
that the RCA is in print.
The Guarneri recorded exclusively for RCA throughout most of their
career. Taking in a lot of recordings, including the many things they
did with Rubinstein, their RCA stable-mate. I don't know when they
switched labels, but I'm sure it was after 1980.
SE.
Simon Roberts
>
>It appears that the Guarneri Quartet recorded two Beethoven cycles- one
>on RCA, which is well known and still print as a box set and an earlier
>one for Philips that was recorded as near I can tell in the late 1980s
>and early 90s. Both were done digitally and from what I have heard so
>far, the earlier one is superior.
The RCA set was recorded in the 1960s (the middle quartets, at any rate, were
recorded 1966-1968). The *sound* on the Philips remakes is far superior (if
perhaps a bit too plush/velvety). I'm not wild about the performances in either
set, except for the finale of 59/3/RCA.
Simon
Handel8
Ok, I stand corrected. I should have checked the dates more carefully.
In the actual case now, it is even more remarkable that the Philips
set is so scarce. Maybe it is possible they did not complete the
second, Philips set.
Alan Prichard
Steve Molino
news:1139256429.4...@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
I believe they did. I saw them perform IIRC the entire Beethoven cycle at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art back in the early 90s when they were
releasing the Philips discs. The concerts were much more interesting than
the recordings.
Alan Cooper
<s_molin...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>I believe they did. I saw them perform IIRC the entire Beethoven cycle at
>the Metropolitan Museum of Art back in the early 90s when they were
>releasing the Philips discs. The concerts were much more interesting than
>the recordings.
Always the case with the Guarneri, whom I saw countless times in their
prime. Their live Smetana #1 was incomparable; even their great RCA
recording of the piece is a notch or two below the best that they were
capable of. I also saw them do the finest Beethoven 59/2 that I have
ever heard, live or recorded, (Once again their RCA of the work is
excellent, imo, but not nearly as fine as the live performance.)
AC