overviewfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fBRAHMS String Quartets Nos. 1-3
BRAHMS Piano Quartet No. 1
Studio Recordings · 1932-49
Total duration: 2hr 13:36
The Busch Quartet
with
Rudolf Serkin piano
578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_titlefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fGramophone Historic Review578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_quotefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fLet me say at once : this is a wonderful performance indeed578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_bodyfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fIt was wise to choose the more immediately attractive of the two
string quartets that make up Brahms’ Op. 51 and I earnestly hope that
the record-buying public will support this laudable enterprise. The
composer never returned to the medium of the string quartet, preferring
the piano quartet, which he evidently found more congenial. The first
movement, full of energy and drive, is a little too rich in texture in
spite of a lovely lusingando second subject : and the second movement
is, its dramatic middle section apart, of a very romantic cast. The gem
of the quartet is the very original Minuet movement which has a lively
scherzo in place of a trio, and this movement contains music of the
greatest beauty. The final movement gives the lie to Wolf, who said
Brahms could not exult, and nothing in the quartet is lovelier than the
sudden ironing out of the syncopations of its chief subject, in the
coda, and the presentation of the theme in the simplest possible terms
just before a most exciting conclusion is added. The Busch Quartet are
at the top of their form in this recording and bring out all the lyrical
beauty of the work as well as the brilliance of the livelier movements.
The recording is exceedingly good.A.R., The Gramophone Review of String Quartet No. 2, November 1947
Let me say at once : this is a wonderful performance indeed. The four
players are not perhaps in their very highest form in the first
movement, but that still leaves them well ahead of most other quartets I
have heard. Serkin’s opening phrase is not well calculated and he shows
elsewhere in the movement some tendency to push on in a rather ruthless
way with heaviness of accentuation : but you can scarcely be in doubt
that you are in for a big performance. In the Intermezzo all the players
have found their form and this odd but magical movement gets a really
lovely performance.
But the heights—and the highest heights— are reached in a magnificent
reading of the slow movement. The intensity of feeling in the opening
section is a quality characteristic of the Busch players (and notably,
of course, of their leader) : equally noteworthy is the playing in the
contrasting С major section that follows. Indeed, the performance of
this whole movement makes it quite clear that we are listening to
artists of the very highest calibre.
And having arrived at this form they proceed to a performance of
Brahms’ wonderful Finale, which is by turns scintillating and
wonderfully alluring. How well, for one thing, those changes of time and
rhythm are judged. Thé balance of the instruments in the recording is
excellent throughout, the ensemble is impeccable, while the quality of
recorded sound is very good (though, like the. playing, it seemed to me
to improve from good to excellent as it went along). This is a
magnificent set of records.
T.H., The Gramophone Review of Piano Quartet No. 1, September 1949
578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9main_samplefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fsamples/PACM091.mp3578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fProducer's Note578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcontent578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fPioneering Busch String Quartet brilliant with Brahms
"The Busch Quartet are at the top of their form ... exceedingly good" - The Gramophone
These recordings provide us with a wonderful sweep of time both in
terms of chamber music performance in the era of commercial sound
recording, and in terms of recording quality. Thanks in part to the
efforts of the National Gramophonic Society, by 1932 the major record
companies were taking chamber music seriously and the Busch Quartet were
among the vanguard of a handful of new, highly professional,
technically brilliant groups able to profit from this.
By the time they returned to the Brahms Quartets another revolution
was in the air, and we hear clearly the quality leap from the 78rpm disc
recordings of the 2nd Quartet to the taped recordings of the 3rd and
the Piano Quartet.
All the recordings have benefited enormously from both pitch
correction and/or stabilisation and XR remastering in these new
transfers.
Andrew Rose
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BRAHMS String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1
Recorded 19 & 23 September, 1932
Issued as HMV DB 1807-10
Matrix Nos. 2B.3858-65
BRAHMS String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2
Recorded 19 April, 1947
Issued as Columbia LX.1022-25
Matrix Nos. CAX.9871-78
BRAHMS String Quartet No. 3 in B flat major, Op. 57
Recorded 17 & 21 May, 1949
Issued as Columbia LX.1262-5 & LXS.1266
Matrix Nos. CAX.10511-19
BRAHMS Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25
Recorded 25 & 26 May, 1949
Issued as Columbia LX.1217-21
Matrix Nos. CAX.10520-29
Rudolf Serkin piano
Adolf Busch violin
Gösta Andreasson(1)/Ernest Drucker(2)/Bruno Straumann(3) violin
Karl Doktor(1)/Hugo Gottesmann(2-4) viola
Hermann Busch cello
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