# Myaskovsky String Quartets



## NightHawk

I want to cut to the chase and get the top 6 Myaskovsky String Quartets - can anyone help me. I can't afford to buy 13 of them! Thanks in advance for any opines.

Thought about a poll, but didn't think there would be much action. Like an opinionated reply better, anyways.


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## chrislowski

The only versions of the String Quartets I have heard are the collection I bought from the label Northern Flowers, played by the Taneyev Quartet. I think Quartet No. 2 is probably a great one to hear first, it is full of transformation and makes great listening. The 8th has a beautiful slow movement, and I like No. 10 for the fantastic finale. The 13th is brisk and powerful.

I love them all, but those are the ones that stand out the most for me.


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## NightHawk

Thank you for your good post!



chrislowski said:


> The only versions of the String Quartets I have heard are the collection I bought from the label Northern Flowers, played by the Taneyev Quartet. I think Quartet No. 2 is probably a great one to hear first, it is full of transformation and makes great listening. The 8th has a beautiful slow movement, and I like No. 10 for the fantastic finale. The 13th is brisk and powerful.
> 
> I love them all, but those are the ones that stand out the most for me.


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## Oskaar

Do you have spotify, Night Hawk? The sound streemd is amazing, and if you talk to an expert you can avoid sound card limitations, if you connect to other stereo equipment. And I have several invitations to give!


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## NightHawk

I don't, Oskaar, I don't even know what it is, but it sounds very interesting. Invitations, huh?  Tell me more. NH



oskaar said:


> Do you have spotify, Night Hawk? The sound streemd is amazing, and if you talk to an expert you can avoid sound card limitations, if you connect to other stereo equipment. And I have several invitations to give!


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## Vaneyes

My lone CD of Myaskovsky SQs. Wish I had more.


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## chrislowski

What is the benefit of being invited to Spotify, just out of interest?


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## Chrythes

In the past the only way to register to Spotify was through invitations.
I registered 3 months ago and it was without an invitation. 
In any way, i don't think you get any extras or benefits by being invited. The weird thing is that i don't have any limitations (i can play the same tune infinite times i guess (e.g can't count how many times i've listened to Beethoven's SQ, but certainly more than 5) except for the commercials. But it's not a problem if you know when a piece is going to end, you can change to the next piece (or in our case - movement). But they are still the downside for the free users, because i can't just leave Spotify playing while i'm lying in my bed/trying to fall asleep with music.


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## Head_case

Chris _ your Olympia recording is the same as the Northern Flowers re-issues.

Olympia only released the no. II, VI, X. The collectors edition is the Russian Discs set with the purple covers....which are the same recordings as Olympia and Northern Flowers!

Best to get the Northern Flowers...although there are eminent alternatives to the unrivalled Taneyev Quartet cycle for individual quartets. They changed their name around the time the city changed its name...

The Boishoi Theatre Quartet version of no. IX predates the Taneyev Quartet - the new cd transfer is superb and it has some brilliant couplings. This is a fabulous disc at a great price. From the Taneyev quartet recordings I love the IXth, Ist and IVth for its anxious pondering power; the XIIIth shares the energy and invention of your favourite no. II and is widely recorded by the Kopelman Quartet, the Stanaskastowitcicz-gastelhorowicz Radio Quartet (sp?), the Borodin Quartet and the Renoir Quartet.

None of these readings possess anything great enough to displace the Taneyev Quartet reading as a first choice. This one was coupled with the brilliant XII th. Only the Renoir Quartet reading is an outlier. Their interpretation is so far away from the emotionally introspective world of Myaskovsky.

The V, VII, VIII, XI form the body of what I consider his more pastoral works...these are less immediate but beautifully honed. Stylistically none of his writing was avant-garde....that is...his music isn't marked by bling factor philosophy nor empty ideology or worse...deluded methodology for methodology' s sake. I can't settle for anything less than the complete cycle of XIII string quartets...each informsone another, and this cycle occupies a plane if its own, after Taneyev's IX quartets and before his pupil Shebalin's IX quartets and Shostakovich' XV quartets.

Happy discovering! Glad to see you've started mining this incredible body of highly personal and enjoyable modern music! After all...not modern music can be listened to as tirelessly as Myaskovsky.


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## jurianbai

Myaskovsky no.13 is his most recorded. I also recommend no.7,9 and 11.
Here alternate recording of his no.13 by Pacifica.









Amazon link (shortened) http://amzn.to/w52xXE


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## Head_case

Yup...that's the Pacifica Quartet embarking on their Shostakovich cycle throwing in a Myaskovsky quartet in the mix. It's a shame its not the other way around.....like we really need yet another Shostakovich Cycle (no I'm not going to buy my 4th complete Shosty cycle anyhows! Unless their interpretation wipes the floor from the past 50 yrs I think not lol).

They are very good though. Their Crawford-Seeger and Hindemith quartets are exemplary playing. Americans playing American string quartets is a safe combo....Americans playing Soviet communist music better than USSR quartets......someone else can buy the Cd and tell us its so!

I tip them as this generation's Fitzwilliams or Emersons. Their Janacek Quartet reading is again very beautiful, but with such great competition, they don't even make it in my top 5 versions...

Listening to Myaskovsky' VIIIth now with the anxiously strident Soviet tension woven into the pastoral tapestry of the quartet.


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## NightHawk

Very cool in that Haydn's 6 Quartets Opus 33 were very important and the lead off quartet on this album is from Myaskovsky's #3 from the same opus. Going to try and order this right now! Thanks!!! (minutes later: done! coming from the UK 



Vaneyes said:


> My lone CD of Myaskovsky SQs. Wish I had more.


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## NightHawk

Excellent! I'm on my way to Amazon. 



jurianbai said:


> Myaskovsky no.13 is his most recorded. I also recommend no.7,9 and 11.
> Here alternate recording of his no.13 by Pacifica.
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> Amazon link (shortened) http://amzn.to/w52xXE


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## NightHawk

Apologies to all for just getting back to this thread I created asking for suggestions. Am I missing an easy way to keep up with my posts? Tags maybe?


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## NightHawk

Just ordered your suggestion from Amazon! Thanks!!!


jurianbai said:


> Myaskovsky no.13 is his most recorded. I also recommend no.7,9 and 11.
> Here alternate recording of his no.13 by Pacifica.
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> 
> 
> Amazon link (shortened) http://amzn.to/w52xXE


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## DABTSAR

never heard of this guy, but I'm trying to listen to more chamber music. should i put this on the list? i already have so much to absorb


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## Vaneyes

DABTSAR said:


> never heard of this guy, but I'm trying to listen to more chamber music. should i put this on the list? i already have so much to absorb


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## Head_case

How did the rest of the forum miss the obvious poll! 

Definitely YES!


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## Novelette

It's impossible for me to choose a favorite String Quartet of Myaskovsky. They're all so good!


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## Vaneyes

Novelette said:


> It's impossible for me to choose a favorite String Quartet of Myaskovsky. They're all so good!


You're headed for a fiscal cliff.


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## Head_case

In the 1930's, music was ordered and structured: city workers followed suite in orderly queues, and had never understood it possible that Myaskovsky was busying himself preparing one of the greatest string quartet cycles of the 20th century.

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_250/MI0001/017/MI0001017486.jpg?partner=allrovi.com[img]
[img]http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_250/MI0001/017/MI0001017486.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

























By the 21st century economic recession, the mood had changed slightly:


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## Novelette

Vaneyes: I think you're right!


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## Guest

Thanks to this thread, I bought my first CD of his String Quartets (I have a few Symphonies and the Violin Concerto), which arrived today. Great stuff! The 1983 Russian audio may be not be the most refined, but it's plenty good enough, and what an amazing quartet is the Taneyev.


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## Head_case

That's the best Myaskovsky string quartet cycle!

That's the only Myaskovsky string quartet cycle....! :lol:

Unfortunately the anxiously rhythmically agitated string quartet no.I is the weakest recording of the whole quartet cycle. For comparison, there is a more dynamic and warm recording in recent years of the string quartet no. I:










This will appeal more to newcomers who don't know Myaskovsky's works: it is not true to the original score, but it has 'gallic flair' according to its publishers:

http://www.arre-se.com/arr-mias2_fr1.html

This is coupled with the most popularly recorded quartet no. XIII.

Also available as:

http://www.classical-music.com/review/myaskovskyshostakovich
http://kopelmanquartet.com/en/press/miaskovsky-cd-review

by the Kopelman Quartet.

None of which are as well played as the famous Taneyev Quartet cycle which you have started with.

Keep collecting those Northern Flowers releases


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