The Busch Quartet - Beethoven Late Quartets etc Busch Quartet (30 tracks) +Album Reviews

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The Busch Quartet
Beethoven: Late Quartets, etc / Busch Quartet
Genre: Classical

Track Listings (9) - Disc #1
1. No.11 In F Minor, Op.95: Allegro con brio
2. No.11 In F Minor, Op.95: Allegretto ma non troppo
3. No.11 In F Minor, Op.95: Allegro assai vivace, ma serioso
4. No.11 In F Minor, Op.95: Larghetto - Allegretto agitato - Allegro
5. No.12 In E Flat, Op.127: Maestoso - allegro
6. No.12 In E Flat, Op.127: Adagio ma non troppo, molto cantabile
7. No.12 In E Flat, Op.127: Scherzando vivace
8. No.12 In E Flat, Op.127: Finale
9. Grosse Fuge Op.133
Track Listings (12) - Disc #2
1. No. 13 in Bb, Op. 130: Allegro
2. No. 13 in Bb, Op. 130: Presto
3. No. 13 in Bb, Op. 130: Andante con moto
4. No. 13 in Bb, Op. 130: Alla danza Tedesco
5. No. 13 in Bb, Op. 130: Cavatina
6. No. 13 in Bb, Op. 130: Finale
7. No. 14 In C# Minor, Op. 131: Adagio ma na troppo molto espressivo
8. No. 14 In C# Minor, Op. 131: Allegro molto vivace
9. No. 14 In C# Minor, Op. 131: Allegro moderato - Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile - Andante moderato a lusinghier - Adagio - Adagio ma non troppo e simplice - Allegretto
10. No. 14 In C# Minor, Op. 131: Presto
11. No. 14 In C# Minor, Op. 131: Adagio Quasi un poco andante
12. No. 14 In C# Minor, Op. 131: Allegro
Track Listings (9) - Disc #3
1. No. 15 In A Minor, Op. 132: Assai sostenuto- Allegro
2. No. 15 In A Minor, Op. 132: Allegro ma non tanto
3. No. 15 In A Minor, Op. 132: Molto Adagio
4. No. 15 In A Minor, Op. 132: Alla marcia, assai vivace
5. No. 15 In A Minor, Op. 132: Allegro appassionato
6. No. 16 In F, Op. 135: Allegretto
7. No. 16 In F, Op. 135: Vivace
8. No. 16 In F, Op. 135: Lento assai e cantante tranquillo
9. No. 16 In F, Op. 135: Grave, ma non troppo tanto- Allegro

CD Details

All Artists: The Busch Quartet
Title: Beethoven: Late Quartets, etc / Busch Quartet
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Pearl
Release Date: 4/13/1999
Album Type: Box set
Genre: Classical
Styles: Chamber Music, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830), Symphonies
Number of Discs: 3
SwapaCD Credits: 3
UPC: 727031005322

CD Reviews

Magnificent Beethoven ...... In Botched CD Transfers

Jeffrey Lipscomb | Sacramento, CA United States | 06/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am awarding 5 Stars here strictly for the magnificent performances by the Busch Quartet. Their late Beethoven Quartets are superbly played and profoundly communicative. To my ears, their only rivals are the later recordings by the Budapest Quartet and the Hollywood Quartet. These Busch readings are an indispensable component in any serious chamber music collection.BUT ..... Pearl has ruined these fine 1930's recordings with absurd amounts of added reverb. Listening to these on my car's CD player was no problem - ambient noise in that environment is unavoidable. However, listening at home in my living room, or worse, when listening with headphones, the ruinous effects of Pearl's botched transfers are painfully apparent. Horribly echoey, un-natural sound - even worse than the old "rechanneled for stereo" LPs of yesteryear. What a shame! I have found many of Pearl's other transfers of historic material to be excellent -it's rather inexplicable what came over them here.Quartets 11,12 and 14-16 can be found in EXCELLENT transfers on EMI 65308, a 4-disc CD set that also throws in Quartets 1 & 9, plus the wonderful 3rd Violin Sonata (with Serkin), the Schubert 8th Quartet (terrific!), and Mendelssohn's Capriccio.Quartet #13 is coupled with the Busch account of #7 on Sony CD 47687. The transfers are superb.Currently, the Grosse Fugue - which is not with the Busch Quartet, but with Adolph Busch conducting a student chamber orchestra - is not available elsewhere. The reverb here was truly awful. But even though I am a great Busch admirer, I think this music sounds best in the original quartet version (both the Budapest and Hollywood versions were outstanding). Of the orchestral arrangements, the finest I have heard was by Hermann Scherchen and the English Baroque Orchestra on an ancient Westminster LP that deserves a good CD transfer.Bottom line: avoid this Pearl issue's mangled sound, and seek out superior alternatives from EMI and Sony."

One of the Greatest

Jeffrey Lipscomb | 01/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's a great shame that the Busch Quartet wasn't able to record the complete Beethoven String Quartets. These are fabulous performances -- graceful and exciting. The Busch Quartet was one of the premier string quartets of their day (roughly contemporaneous with the Budapest String Quartet). These transfers from 78s for Pearl are very good. The performances come through clearly with body and without the extranous electronic distortions...caused by poor use of digital noise reduction technologies.Highly recommended!!"

A real find

Syracuse Violinist | Syracuse, NY United States | 01/31/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While today's string quartets may play in a way which is more polished and clean, there is simply no quartet anywhere that can come close to the beauty, passion, and nobility that the Busch Quartet achieved.
They recorded mosty in the 1930's so the sound is somewhat poor and the style of play is dated but if you care at all about the quartets of Beethoven then you will want to hear them played by the Busch Quartet.
I thought I had all their available recordings but was very glad to find this one to add to my collection."