Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Medici Quartet :: Beethoven: Complete String Quartets

Great music at a good price--winning combination

Barrie W. Bracken | Daytona Beach, FL | 04/18/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a Beethoven fan for the past 60 years. If you want a review by a music critic, find someone else. I studied the guitar as a child and the teacher finally followed his conscience and told my expectant parents that further lessons would be a waste of their money. I may have only a vague notion of what differenciates as quarter note from a whole note, but I know what I like. I like Beethoven and I like these recordings.



True, I may have a strong preference for Ludwig because the cat I inherited from my wife only likes Mozart, but this doesn't affect the value of these CD's. They sound great. The price is good. The package should come with opening instructions (I spent half an hour with a screw driver trying to get the discs our) but this is the only complaint of this music lover.



If you enjoy good music, this is for you. Order it, smash the plastic housing with an axe, and listen. You too will love it."

Overall, great value

HB | Fort Mill, SC | 01/25/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have not heard too many entire sets of the Beethoven Quartets but I would be shocked if there is one set with 16 outstanding performances. It just does not happen. This bargain set has 13 excellent performances out of 17 (it also includes the opus 29 quintet). The weak performances are from opus 18: Nos. 1, 4 and 6 plus opus 95. I found the rest to be quite wonderful, especially opus 74, 127 and 135. This 8 CD set costs the same as two full-priced CDs. You can't go wrong at that price."

An incredible bargain - but certainly not cut price in quali

Ralph Moore | Bishop's Stortford, UK | 02/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have loved this eight disc set ever since I bought it shortly after its release in 1994 and have never found any reason to replace it with a more expensive version by a more "glamorous" quartet. Thse are deeply felt yet unfussy performances, beautifully in tune, technically impeccable and responsive to all the shades of dynamic and tone that this incredible music requires. I particularly love the hushed rapture of the slow movements, such as the famous Cavatina in Op. 130, but the Medici are equally adept in capturing the grim, savage glee of Beethoven's wilder effusions in the "Grosse Fuge". I made a point of comparing their version with the celebrated Takacs Quartet account of the later quartets, and while I admired the Takacs' elegance and subtlety, their interpretation was simply too urbane, too civilised and lacking the attack and energy that the Medici bring to these strange and wonderful works. I have bought this set for friends - easy, even at "full" price - who now share my enthusiasm for these performances and you can now pick them up from Amazon Marketplace at knock-down prices. Don't hesitate; save your money for other, more expensive items on your wish list and make this your set of Beethoven string quartets."