# Prokofiev Quartets/Sequoia Quartet



## GKC (Jun 2, 2011)

Can anyone tell me about this recording (on the Nonesuch label, I think)? Performance (especially) and the recorded sound.

Thank you.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

I don't know the recording, but I found a review of the LP in _Fanfare_'s archive, from 1983.

Of the 2nd quartet, reviewer Don C. Siebert said "It is a pleasure to recommend the Sequoia Quartet's lively and skillful performance. The reviewer has many pleasant memories of the old Hollywood Quartet recording of the piece. The new one seems equal in every way, except that the cellist might have been more freely declamatory in his third-movement cadenza."

For the 1st quartet, he said "Comparing the Sequoia's version with that of the Smetana Quartet (Supraphon 50420), I found them equally good except in the problematic third movement. Here the Smetana's lighter, shapelier, and more sweet-toned playing does a good deal to make the music more accessible. And by taking the central section slightly faster, they are more responsive to the composer's tempo indications. The Sequoia's reading is more turgid and tends to wallow in the gloom. They take the central section a bit slower and emphasize its dramatic elements. This approach seems to be a legitimate alternative, but in the context of a generally heavy reading, it is not altogether successful."

As for the sound?
"The sound is vivid."


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## GKC (Jun 2, 2011)

Thanks Nereffid. I had forgotten about this. In the interim I found the Sequoia on an LP and like it very much. I didn't know the Smetana recorded the 1st, so will look for it.


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