Die mit der Folge ‘Romanticism’ fortgesetzte Reihe der Veröffentlichungen der RIAS-Aufnahmen des Amadeus Quartetts widmet sich in diesem fünften Konvolut mit sechs CDs der romantischen Musik. Dabei sind Brahms mit fünf Werken, Mendelssohn und Schumann mit jeweils zwei sowie Bruckner, Dvorak, Grieg und Verdi mit je einem Stück vertreten.

Als Besonderheiten dieser historischen Einspielungen kann man benennen, dass einige Stücke wie das Verdi-Quartett oder die Schumann-Werke vom Amadeus Quartett zwar im Konzertsaal gespielt, aber nie auf Platte aufgenommen wurden, sondern nur fürs Radio. Außerdem sind mit sechs der dreizehn Stücke viele Quintette eingespielt. Dabei haben sie für die Streichquintette auch hier auf ihren einzigen Partner in dieser Formation, Cecil Aronowitz, gesetzt.

Mit Heinrich Geuser, der mit seinem ausdrucksvollen Ton eine ganze Generation von jungen Klarinettisten geprägt hat, haben sie das Klarinettenquintett von Brahms eingespielt. Als Pianisten für die Klavierquintette haben sie Conrad Hansen gewählt und sind damit von ihrem üblichen Partner Clifford Curzon abgewichen. Auch Hansen konnte auf eine reiche Solisten- und Lehrtätigkeit zurückblicken.

Das Quartett hat in den vierzig Jahren seines Zusammenspiels mit konstanter Besetzung eine Harmonie und ein tiefes Verständnis füreinander entwickelt. Obwohl die Aufnahmen teilweise schon wenige Jahre nach Gründung des Quartetts entstanden sind, ist dieses enge Miteinander in allen Aufnahmen zu hören. Die Romantik wird hier wohlklingend warm gezeichnet. Das führt allerdings nicht dazu, dass auch nur ein Moment langweilig oder routiniert klingt. Man spürt immer das Engagement und Intensität. Selbst das Grieg Quartett, das man auch schon disparater gehört hat, klingt schön, aber eben nicht spannungslos. Vor dem Hintergrund, dass die Aufnahmen ohne die Möglichkeit der Nachbesserungen wie unter Konzertbedingungen aufgenommen worden sind, offenbart sich die Meisterschaft des Ensembles umso mehr.

The Amadeus Quartet’s performances are enthralling and show one of the great quartets of the second half of the last century in perfect togetherness and with total commitment.

In 1684 Salzburg court organist Georg Muffat faced one of his many career disappointments when he was passed over as Kapellmeister in favor of Heinrich Biber. It is true that Biber not only had much more experience and was local to boot, but for Muffat it was a decisive blow to his ambitions that not even a consolation trip to Italy to study with Bernardo Pasquini could alleviate. Even here, he did not receive his full time abroad, for after only about 10 months he was forced to return to celebrate an important event, the 1,000-year anniversary of the founding of the Salzburg court (give or take a century). Among the extensive musical events for the festivities, Muffat was only allowed to contribute some keyboard sonatas in the newer Italian style. Buoyed by these works, he hoped to parlay their success into a more lucrative post, only to have his hopes dashed even when he had dedicated the collection to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. He and Biber never really got along, and so by 1690 he abandoned Salzburg for the smaller court of Passau just in time for the ordination of Count Johann Lamberg as Prince-Archbishop.

Delayed by a year, this event allowed Muffat to focus his skill on a special music for the celebrations, not having to share the stage as he had in Salzburg. He continued to compose church music for Passau up to his death in1704, but unfortunately little of it has survived. This, indeed, appears to have been the only Mass, a huge sprawling composition in 24 parts, including divided vocal chorus (often used in echo) and no fewer than three instrumental consorts; a cornett and trombone ensemble, a clarino and timpani ensemble (five trumpets), and the usual strings and continuo. In addition, there are parts for two organs in support. Somehow, the work wound up in the possession of Joseph Haydn, and eventually it became part of the Esterházy library. There seems to have been some small controversy about attribution, but this has been solved, and here for the first time the entire monumental work has been recorded using the resonant church at the monastery in Muri.

The work is monumental in all of its aspects. The Kyrie opens with a nice echo effect between the strings and brass, a sort of overture before the powerful stentorian choral statement, with a softer set of contrapuntal solo moments that provide a textural contrast. The second section is a gentle fugue that unfolds with a gathering of voices that builds into the block chords of the next section, a sort of recapitulation. The Gloria begins with a sort of march at “In terra pax hominibus” which explodes into cascades of full choral and orchestral sound; the result is inexorable progression, but the “Laudamus te” is a lyrical duet above a walking bass that continues the forward motion, first with two higher voices and then with two lower ones before they all combine at the cadence. The low bass begins a layered series of lines at the “Domine fili,” eventually turning into a rather complex fugue at the “Qui tolli peccata mundi.” The glorious Credo is as magnificent a statement of faith as one could wish, with powerful brass and choral expostulations; here the cori spezzati legacy of Venice is clearly in evidence. At the “Et incarnates” we are suddenly immersed into a thoughtful and gentle mood that is almost pastoral, right up to the sorrowful “Crucifixus” with its close vocal harmonies. The relentless ostinato bass returns at the imitative Sanctus, with brilliant cries of “Hosanna in excelsis.” The opening of the Agnus Dei floats languidly above a mysterious full brass chords in the trombone and cornett choir, but by the third statement, the “Dona nobis pacem” builds again to a full-voiced conclusion. This is one of the most magnificent Masses of the period, and well worth this resurrection.

The remaining works, all by Muffat’s contemporaries, seem just a bit pale in comparison, sounding for all the world like a bit of filler. That is not to say that the styles are not incompatible, but their inclusion tends to reinforce the Venetian quality of the vocal music, especially the fanfare-like Antonio Bertali sonata à 13. The Biber works are fun, but in general they aren’t quite up to the brilliance of the Muffat and so are a bit like comic relief.

The performance by the combined Capella Murensis and Les Cornets Noirs is powerful and convincing. Conductor Johannes Strobl has the large forces well in hand, producing in the resonant church a work that is both noble and clear. No flaws seem to mar this recording. Well recommended as a must for those interested in celebratory Baroque church music.

The choice of the first of Saint-Saëns’s two string quartets is a rather apt pairing with the Quintet in that the early Op 14 was written to showcase the keyboard skill of the 20-year-old composer, while Op 112 was written for (and dedicated to) the Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. Not that the other parts in these works are negligible (far from it) but the piano in the Quintet and the first violin in the Quartet are the dominant protagonists.

This is especially true of the former, which boasts a brilliant piano part (it is easy to imagine the work being arranged as a concerto). The first of the four movements overflows with a superabundance of ideas, the second is a sustained and moving Andante, the third a perpetuum mobile that hurtles along and put me in mind of Alkan’s Le chemin de fer, and the fugal finale is reminiscent of Schumann’s Piano Quintet.

The String Quartet, like the Quintet boasting a lengthy first movement, is less obviously virtuoso, though much of the writing keeps all four players on their toes, not least in the teasing syncopations of the second movement (Molto allegro quasi presto). The exception is the slow third movement, which surely gives the lie to the idea that Saint-Saëns was all glitter and superficial emotion. Here is one of his most deeply felt and intensely personal statements.

The Quartetto di Cremona play with zest, bright colours, great assurance and a tight ensemble that can change direction on a sixpence. Andrea Lucchesini is the excellent pianist in the Quintet and gives Ian Brown a run for his money in the Nash Ensemble’s benchmark recording, but is perhaps a little too forwardly placed in the balance.

Andrea Lumachi (double bass) is billed as playing in the Quintet’s third movement, yet there is no double-bass part in the original score. Or is there? In fact, for some weird reason Saint-Saëns provided an independent part for the instrument with instructions that it remain tacet in movements 1, 2 and 4! There is no explanation for this unique (and, in this case, barely audible) addition anywhere in the booklet-note, which, moreover, misquotes Berlioz and assumes that its readers will have degrees in both musicology and waffle.

An album, though chiefly of funeral music, that is sublime, as are the performances by Capella Murensis.

This fine Audite three-CD set offers lieder performance never before released, all recorded by RIAS in Berlin 1955 - 1963. Some are accompanied by famous pianist Michael Raucheisen.

Johnson: “But it is clear from a study of these quartets (K.168 – 73) that Haydn had a steadying, calming, and deepening effect on Mozart’s chamber music style, without in any way diminishing his natural effervescence. The two final works in the group, K.172 and K.173, are among the most perfect he wrote, violins, viola, and cello wreathing into each other with magical grace, so that it seems at times as though the four players are working one gigantic integrated instrument.” Also: “The king of Prussia got a magnificent String Quartet in D Major (K.575). The other “Haydn” and “Prussian” Quartets get mention only in passing (“In his last string quartet, K.590 of 1790, he gives some splendid solos to the viola, demanding great virtuosity but showing off the tremendous resources of the instrument, especially in the chromatic passages”), but they are – even if one concedes that the quartets are, as a genre, not as strong in Mozart’s output as, say, his quintets and trios – such important and wonderful works, they need to be included. Aside, they are so easily had together.

I would, without the least bit of hesitation, recommend the set of the impeccably and inspired playing Quatuor Mosaïques (which came out of Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s Concentus Musicus). Their recordings of Haydn and Mozart set a standard for original instrument performances and elevated the genre from niche to mainstream. Alas, these recordings are always in and out of print and the Naïve label seems to re-issue them only piecemeal or when the Amazon price for used copies has reached $500. Keep your eyes peeled. Meanwhile, the modern instrument Klenke Quartet(t)’s liveliness and precision in sparkling renditions equally set a very high standard indeed. For old-world Mozartean beauty, there’s little that goes beyond the Amadeus Quartet, whose box of early recordings on Audite would make a splendid recommendation, alas I try to stay away from catch-all boxes. On the other side, that set includes most of the String Quintets and the Clarinet Quintet, too… which makes for a whole lot of essential Mozart in one place. Although I don’t easily fall in love with the Emerson Quartet’s Mozart (and their classical repertoire performances in general), the undeniable quality and convenience of their recording of the last three quartets gives them the nod here. There’s an air of disinfectant to the affair, but not unlike the Hagen Quartet’s ‘X-Ray’ vision in late Beethoven, the total neatness has intriguing merits all of its own. As for the early quartets, there are not many recordings outside of yet more boxes where they can be found (the Hagen Quartet recordings on DG are out of print), but fortunately the Éder Quartet performances on Naxos are very enjoyable, indeed, with a bit of a boom and broadness to them, that make these quartets sound perhaps a little more mature, still, than they are.

Brahms’ quintets [...] demand a precise and sensitive approach to their Performances, combining cheerfulness and melancholy, expansive ideas and compressed form, reminiscences of the past (including his own early works) and the desire to express a new and valid musical message – all this needs to be both perfectly balanced and clearly articulated. The Mandelring Quartet with Roland Glassl has pulled off such an interpretation, masterfully balancing the works’ inner tensions.

It is the earthy directness of violinist Franziska Pietsch’s sound, over...

Johannes Strobl co-ordinates his forces well and the Audite engineers have done a good job in balancing directional and cumulative effects. [...] Muffat’s [mass] is designed to impress and it certainly hits its mark in this fine recording, which will inspire repeated listening.

[...] this is probably the finest complete set of the Shostakovich quartets now on the market.