Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart :: The Complete String Quintets

Disappointed...Performances don't plumb the depths

John Grabowski | USA | 07/22/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Some of Mozart's greatest, most profound, most personal writing was for string quintet (just as Beethoven's was for string quartet). Mozart poured his demonic frustration into pieces such as K. 406 and K. 516. The former is almost Beethovenian. The latter is a unique personal swirl of light and darkness, the likes of which he never wrote again. This is essential and special Mozart.



Unfortunately, I can't see I consider these essential and special recordings. In too many of these performances the musicians don't quite give their all. There's nothing outwardly *wrong* with the efforts here, but I've heard better by the Alban Bergs (yes, that's not a typo) and the Melos Quartet, to name just two. Here, I felt the performers didn't take the music as far as it could go, while still remaining true to its classical (or quasi-classical, for these are some of Mozart's most modern and forward-looking creations) nature. Tempi are rather middle-of-the-road. Angles are smoothed over. The five musicians play without a lot of individual personality, but they don't blend with the steely polish of the Bergs either. They indistinctly play very distinctive works.



For K. 516, the best performance I've yet heard was at a live concert at the Mirabel Palace in Salzburg, by the "house band"! They may not have been famous names, but they convinced me with a well-considered interpretations that was lean and brisk and yet had plenty of attention to nuance. They pointed out dips and shapes in the flow of the work that here is just glossed over. Based on just this recording, I had thought I wouldn't like this quintet. Silly me.



I don't have a complete set to recommend in lieu of this one, but the Amadeus Quartet with Cecil Aronowitz on DG is probably worth a listen and the team of Georges Janzer, Max Lesueur, Arpad Gerecz, Arthur Grumiaux and Eva Czako on Philips sounds promising. I'll have to get to them at some point and report back."

Borderline unlistenable

Aaron | Maryland, USA | 06/28/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I bought an MP3 version of this maybe three years ago after reading a rave review somewhere else. I wasn't familiar with the quintets, but heard they were some of Mozart's best music. But to my surprise, I not only wasn't impressed with the quintets but hated them.



As usual, this turned out not to be Mozart's fault, but the recording's. First of all, the intonation on this disc is horrible. The instruments are audibly tuned to some non-standard frequency and the musicians seem to constantly fudge notes and occasionally even hit the wrong note entirely. I'm certain the frequency is off because my library has streaming versions of two quintets. I never knew this was a 1959 recording until I came back to review it today, so I don't know how much of this was actually the musicians' doing, and how much was distortions in the tape. Either way, no matter how long or how many times I listen, these problems are so glaring it makes the music impossible to enjoy.



The second problem on the other hand, is clearly the musicians fault. As with many recordings of the time, all of these performances skip the repeats. As with Beethoven (if not all classical music), this mars the formal logic of the music and renders the pieces inaccessible.



Unfortunately, I haven't had the time or money to find and recommend alternative recordings. However, my temporary solution has been not to listen to this music at all."

Amazing 1959 sound!

Edith Swanek | Anaheim, Ca | 06/03/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The sound quality is pretty amazing considering the recording was made in 1959, but then, Vanguard always had a real sharpness even on their old LPs. This recording was long considered one of the chamber classics from the old era, when they simply performed the music to the best of their ability (and extraordinary ability at that!) and let the listener make of it what they will. Serious Mozart (and the string quintets are the most serious) deserves careful listening, and these performances deliver."