# Schubert's String Quintet in C, D.956



## DaDirkNL

I've just discovered this terrifyingly beautiful work. The only version I know so far is one on Youtube, so does anybody have a favourite recording I should hear?


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## Ukko

Sometime when you are feeling emotionally secure, you should hear the Emerson version. There is no let up; the abyss not only stares, there's a downdraft.


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## MagneticGhost

Terrifyingly beautiful - nicely put.
I have the Emerson - Rostropovich version and I am very happy with it.


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## DaDirkNL

Emerson it is! Ooh 100th post.


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## Mandryka

The big question you have to ask yourself is whether you want the first movement repeats. It makes a huge difference. If you do (and increasingly I do), then the choice of satisfying recordings is limited -- consider the Medici Quartet on Harmonia Mundi.


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## Vasks

One of the masterpieces of all chamber music. Period!


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## ahammel

Mandryka said:


> The big question you have to ask yourself is whether you want the first movement repeats.


Do Emerson/Rostropovich not take the repeats?

Bunch of gits. That's off my shopping list then.


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## TurnaboutVox

I bought the Chilingirian Quartet with Jennifer Ward-Clarke on CfP in 1981 and love it. 

It still reviews very well against the Emersons/Rostropovich, and would be a rewarding alternative. It was re-released by EMI on CD a few years ago.


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## ProudSquire

I've heard a few of the recommendations above, such as the Emersons, but I'd like to recommend something else. My favorite recording of the C major quintet is done by the Brandis Quartet. I think you should give it a try, you might like it. :]


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## DaDirkNL

D


TheProudSquire said:


> I've heard a few of the recommendations above, such as the Emersons, but I'd like to recommend something else. My favorite recording of the C major quintet is done by the Brandis Quartet. I think you should give it a try, you might like it. :]


Will do, thanks!


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## Mandryka

ahammel said:


> Do Emerson/Rostropovich not take the repeats?
> 
> Bunch of gits. That's off my shopping list then.


I think they do.


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## Quartetfore

There is a fairly new recording by the Takacs Quartet on Hyperion that has got very good reviews. I have not heard it myself, but I do have their recordings of Schuberts last three quartets, and they are outstanding.


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## GraemeG

I have a long-recommended version on ASV by the Lindsays.
Dunno whether they take the repeat, though, can't remember. Haven't heard it in a while.
I remember hearing the piece live (performed by the Australia Ensemble) about 20 years ago, which seared itself into my consciousness. I don't listen to it much, maybe because of that.
GG


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## scratchgolf

Does anyone know of a package deal that includes "The Trout" and the String Quintet? I can find them both paired with plenty but not each other.


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## ahammel

scratchgolf said:


> Does anyone know of a package deal that includes "The Trout" and the String Quintet? I can find them both paired with plenty but not each other.


The Alban Berg Quartet has a set with those two along with the last three string quartets. Seems to be very rare, though.

Pro Arte seems to have paired those two as well, with Schnable on the piano, but I couldn't find that one for sale on a quick googling.


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## scratchgolf

ahammel said:


> The Alban Berg Quartet has a set with those two along with the last three string quartets. Seems to be very rare, though.
> 
> Pro Arte seems to have paired those two as well, with Schnable on the piano, but I couldn't find that one for sale on a quick googling.


Thanks. I tend to search MP3 downloads first due to my extreme impatience. Perhaps I'll broaden my search and wait the 4-5 days for it in the mail. The horror! 

Wow. I found the Berg Quartett for a mere $3,769.00. Gulp


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## jurianbai

I enjoy Takacs' recording on this one.









http://amzn.to/1d8B4Lo

and also one must listen to Alban Berg for comparition. I think both are live recording. 








http://amzn.to/1kAVMGx


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## Avey

For a recommendation, I've always fallen back on the oft-ignored Naxos version - Kocian Quartet. I also have Yo-Yo Ma with Cleveland Quartet and the Shostakovich/Emerson recording. The Kocian Q.'s performance is perfect IMO.

Now, for an opinion and anecdote: This is the greatest piece of chamber music written; it may very well be the greatest piece of music ever written.

I am at a loss of words labeling this music. It exists purely as _that_: the _Quintet_.

All I can _feel_ is this progression toward some finite end, but I have yet to find that end or experience it, regardless of the countless times I listened/studied this piece. I am mesmerized by the _allegro_, I drown in the _adagio_, revel in the _scherzo_, and then, what? We dance? We lament? We rejoice? Where have we gone? What should I feel?

That dissonance in the _allegreto_ -- despair and delight -- always moves me. And I cannot entirely grasp it. There's something to this narrative that I have not had the chance to experience yet. It's as if *Schubert* had already passed away when he wrote this work. Here is music beyond my physical plane.


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## scratchgolf

It's been said that man cannot survive on bread alone. One could also say that man cannot survive on Beethoven alone. Now toss a pat of Schubert on that and you might just get by. Of course I'm kidding. (I'm not. Beethoven and Schubert are all you need to live.)


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## ahammel

scratchgolf said:


> Thanks. I tend to search MP3 downloads first due to my extreme impatience. Perhaps I'll broaden my search and wait the 4-5 days for it in the mail. The horror!
> 
> Wow. I found the Berg Quartett for a mere $3,769.00. Gulp


It sounds expensive, but remember it's a 5 disc set, so it's only like $750 per.


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## scratchgolf

ahammel said:


> It sounds expensive, but remember it's a 5 disc set, so it's only like $750 per.


Very true. There's only one available so I'm operating under the assumption it's collectable. There were a few used available for around $80. Still, after seeing those prices, my collection started sounding a whole lot better to me.


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## ahammel

scratchgolf said:


> Very true. There's only one available so I'm operating under the assumption it's collectable. There were a few used available for around $80. Still, after seeing those prices, my collection started sounding a whole lot better to me.


Poking around amazon, I notice that you can get what look like the component recordings of that set for about $10 a pop on mp3 (assuming you are a United Statesian :scold.


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## peeyaj

I have been enamored by this recording even though this is mono. It is just breathtaking and full of life.










I urge everyone to read this reflection of Schubert's quintet by a cellist. It is a thought provoking read.

*"The Other Great C major"*

http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/schubjn.htm



> What to make of this enigmatic, monumental masterwork? For us cellists, it is the "cello" quintet. For many of us, and for many other string players, it's possibly the greatest piece of chamber music ever written, Beethoven's quartets notwithstanding. Vast in conception and in its spectrum not only of pitch and dynamics, but of emotional states as well, it is truly new and without precedent. At its first public performance, twenty-five years after its composition, it was still viewed as futuristic. Straddling both Classicism and Romanticism, it has no real predecessors, and no true successors. Mystical, visionary, unfathomable, it is intoxicatingly, sensuously beautiful and frighteningly grim, with one foot in Hades and the other in Paradise. What is its ultimate message?


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## PetrB

Vasks said:


> One of the masterpieces of all chamber music. Period!


One of the masterpieces of all of music literature. Period.


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## PetrB

ahammel said:


> Do Emerson/Rostropovich not take the repeats?
> 
> Bunch of gits. That's off my shopping list then.


That winnows down to only a few choices from hundreds for Mozart Symphony No. 40, too.

Simplifying life one step at a time


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## GioCar

I am in love with this Quartet ensemble, and I think this pairing is really thrilling









Franz Schubert - String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, "Death and the Maiden", String Quintet in C major, Op. 163
Pavel Haas Quartet, Danjulo Ishizaka - cello
Supraphon


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## Vaneyes

scratchgolf said:


> Does anyone know of a package deal that includes "The Trout" and the String Quintet? I can find them both paired with plenty but not each other.


As ahammel stated, the Schnabel et al. Also, one with Budapest SQ. Historical recs., with not the best sound.

Many readings take the TT for both to around 90 minutes, which is why you're having trouble finding them on one CD, if that was indeed the gist of your request. :tiphat:


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## scratchgolf

Vaneyes said:


> As ahammel stated, the Schnabel et al. Also, one with Budapest SQ. Historical recs., with not the best sound.
> 
> Many readings take the TT for both to around 90 minutes, which is why you're having trouble finding them on one CD, if that was indeed the gist of your request. :tiphat:


It was and thank you. I have Rostropovich, which I'm very happy with and I'm collecting multiple recordings of the Trout. Was hoping to maybe get a bundle deal but I'm not opposed to separate recordings.


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## Mandryka

One I forgot about which is very special for me is the The Tatrai Quartet + 1.


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## scratchgolf

Mandryka said:


> If you don't mind not having the repeat, then I say you should try to hear the The Tatrai Quartet + 1.


I certainly do not and will. Hopefully there's a youtube version for viewing or another link? I'm starting to have to cleverly mask my Amazon activity from my wife.


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## Mandryka

peeyaj said:


> I have been enamored by this recording even though this is mono. It is just breathtaking and full of life.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I urge everyone to read this reflection of Schubert's quintet by a cellist. It is a thought provoking read.
> 
> *"The Other Great C major"*
> 
> http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/schubjn.htm


That's a fine performance, no repeat.


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## Mandryka

scratchgolf said:


> I certainly do not and will. Hopefully there's a youtube version for viewing or another link? I'm starting to have to cleverly mask my Amazon activity from my wife.


I made a mistake there. They play the repeat as i now recall it. The performance is very dark, a distinctive vision which I found really revealing.


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## Jokke

Hello, i'm new on this interesting forum and a passionate music lover.

Recently, i learned about the Schubert String Quintet in C and found the disc with the Dutch cellist Wispelwey and the Orpheus Quartet worth to listen to. The interpretation is good and the recording is high quality, which is for me a must. Highly recommended.

The disc received at the time a "diapason d'or" award.


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## SARDiver

ahammel said:


> Do Emerson/Rostropovich not take the repeats?
> 
> Bunch of gits. That's off my shopping list then.


Forgive me (for weighing in as a newcomer), but the time I saw listed on that version seems like it would include at least some repeats. It clocks in at around 54 minutes. I have the Alban Berg w/Schiff recording, and it's around 47 minutes. I would assume that the repeats are part of the former recording.

(I'm looking at picking up the Melos Quartett with Rostropovich recording soon, and it's length is about the same as the Emerson, FWIW.)


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## ahammel

SARDiver said:


> Forgive me (for weighing in as a newcomer), but the time I saw listed on that version seems like it would include at least some repeats. It clocks in at around 54 minutes. I have the Alban Berg w/Schiff recording, and it's around 47 minutes. I would assume that the repeats are part of the former recording.
> 
> (I'm looking at picking up the Melos Quartett with Rostropovich recording soon, and it's length is about the same as the Emerson, FWIW.)


Thanks! Actually, I bought that recording some time ago.

They do indeed take the repeats. In fact, they seem to go out of their way to play the repeats slightly differently the second time. I'm starting to think that might be a habit of the Emersons. I'm not sure how I feel about it.


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## SARDiver

ahammel said:


> Thanks! Actually, I bought that recording some time ago.
> 
> They do indeed take the repeats. In fact, they seem to go out of their way to play the repeats slightly differently the second time. I'm starting to think that might be a habit of the Emersons. I'm not sure how I feel about it.


I should have figured the comment I was quoting was tongue-in-cheek. LOL

I'm trying to decide between the Emerson version and the Melos interpretation, and I think I'm leaning towards the Melos now. (My wife is trying her best to understand why I now need two or three versions of the same piece of music.)


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## ahammel

SARDiver said:


> I should have figured the comment I was quoting was tongue-in-cheek. LOL


It was to some extent, but I did genuinely want to know whether they took the repeats, so thanks for taking them time


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## scratchgolf

SARDiver said:


> (My wife is trying her best to understand why I now need two or three versions of the same piece of music.)


If you come up with a good defense, and she buys it, do share. I will then try it on my wife as well.

And please continue to weigh in. Tenure does not guarantee quality, and some go well out of their way to prove it.


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## SARDiver

scratchgolf said:


> If you come up with a good defense, and she buys it, do share. I will then try it on my wife as well.
> 
> And please continue to weigh in. Tenure does not guarantee quality, and some go well out of their way to prove it.


Thank you.

I'm going to try this:

"Honey, it's for the same reason I can love the way you look with your hair up or down. Just two different styles of the same masterpiece."

She's neither vain, nor a fool, but if offered as a sincere analogy (and it will be), it'll work like a charm.


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## Cadenza

I'm going to try this:

"Honey, it's for the same reason I can love the way you look with your hair up or down. Just two different styles of the same masterpiece."

She's neither vain, nor a fool, but if offered as a sincere analogy (and it will be), it'll work like a charm.


You are a GENIUS!

Schubert's String Quintet is a lovely piece. (I settled on the Emerson)


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## scratchgolf

I don't want to derail the thread so......I love Schubert's String Quintet! (I Do)

Having said that, I had a friend who was a raging alcoholic. Inpatient kinda stuff. He told me he used to buy a bottle of liquor every time he got gas and mask it by paying inside and adding it to the 4/5 of a tank of gas he'd pay for. I certainly don't condone that BUT, if the occasional Amazon gift card gets mixed in with my groceries............


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## DebussyDoesDallas

If you like HIP, I really recommend the 5-CD Vivarte box of Chamber Works. You get the 2 piano trios, the Trout Quintet, the Arpeggione, an early quartet (E flat major), the Octet, other odds and sods, and of course the Quintet. Under 20 bucks, it's a great deal, though of course you're going to be wanting more than one version of all these--no single account is definitive. 

I will say one thing about this performance of the Quintet--the third movement scherzo is definitely the fastest I've heard. Personally, I love the speedy clip--I think it retains its thunder and heft while still driving and leaping forward unstoppably--but I wouldn't be surprised if some listeners found the tempo objectionable, but it's a must-hear methinks. Come to think of it, the first mvt is quite fast too. I don't recall the repeats situation. See, how we have to check out multiple versions? 

You can find the box here:
http://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Chamber-Works--Quintet-String/dp/B009EJSUE6/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1389457613&sr=8-12&keywords=piano+trios++schubert

And reviews of the Quintet recording itself here, including an extremely detailed, knowledgeable, and insightful review that's mixed but illuminating:
http://www.amazon.com/Schubert-String-Quintet-956-Rondo/dp/B0000027BY/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt


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## shiny

New member here. What a wonderful forum! I registered just to comment on the issue of repeats being included or not. 

Many of the older recordings don't have the repeats while modern recordings do. My understanding is that it had to do with the time limitation of LP recordings. If they had included the repeats it wouldn't have all fit on an LP. That limitation doesn't exist with modern digital recordings. 

I have the Quintet by the Berg, Melos and Tokyo quartets. Of the three the Berg is the oldest and shortest because they didn't do the repeats. The Melos is the longest because they not only did the repeats, they also chose a slower tempo than just about any other quartet. The Tokyo also did the repeats; their tempo is between the Berg and the Melos recordings. Tokyo's interpretation and performance is beautifully balanced.

All three are very good but the Berg, even without repeats, is hands down my favorite. For some reason I can't explain it simply touches my heart in a powerful way. It takes my breath away! 

After the Berg I prefer the Tokyo (one of the inexplicably underappreciated quartets IMHO). If you wish the Berg quartet included the repeats, give the Tokyo a try. The Melos version just doesn't hold my attention. Many people love their recording of the Quintet, but for me it becomes background music.

I guess what I'm suggesting is don't be put off by a recording that skips the repeats. You might be missing out on something wonderful.


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## Mandryka

Yes well the repeat is a problem in this and in the last quartet. Which Melos do you have? The one I like is the one with Rostropovich, I haven't heard the one with Wofgang Boettcher. I found it one of the best with the repeat.

You may prefer to avoid the repeat completely, thinking it just can't be made to work. But I think that the expansiveness is an asset, and a central part of what Schubert was about, even though putting the repeat in may make for more challenging listening. I acknowledge you need pretty imaginative playing to pull it off though.


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## KenOC

I have and very much enjoy the Lindsays in the Schubert Quintet. They include the first movement exposition repeat, but I found it quite easy to edit out. :devil:


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## shiny

Mandryka said:


> Yes well the repeat is a problem in this and in the last quartet. Which Melos do you have? The one I like is the one with Rostropovich, I haven't heard the one with Wofgang Boettcher. I found it one of the best with the repeat.
> 
> You may prefer to avoid the repeat completely, thinking it just can't be made to work. But I think that the expansiveness is an asset, and a central part of what Schubert was about, even though putting the repeat in may make for more challenging listening. I acknowledge you need pretty imaginative playing to pull it off though.


I've got the Melos version with Rostropovich- the one you like (duck and cover!). My Tokyo Quartet version does include the repeat and I like it very much. That the Alban Berg version is my favorite (so far) doesn't have anything to do with it not having the repeat. I just love the performance the best. It has a magical quality about it that I can't put into words.


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## Ukko

shiny said:


> I've got the Melos version with Rostropovich- the one you like (duck and cover!). My Tokyo Quartet version does include the repeat and I like it very much. That the Alban Berg version is my favorite (so far) doesn't have anything to do with it not having the repeat. I just love the performance the best. It has a magical quality about it that I can't put into words.


Yeah, the ABQ recording has something going on, a force, a sense of inevitability that I am unable to resist.

Tanks in Tienanmen Square, gone personal.


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## Skilmarilion

I'm not sure I have anything new to say but I'll undertake standard procedure and mention that yes, the Quintet is ridiculously fantastic -- an absolute wonder.

Just to stray away from recordings, I particularly enjoyed this video on youtube, where Joel Krosnick introduces the work (and in doing so demonstrates how mesmerised he still is by it) and goes on to give a more than stellar performance of it with the Afiara Quartet.


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## hpowders

I have to listen to this music again. Haven't heard it in a long time.


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## PeterF

A truly marvelous piece of music. I have 5 versions of the String Quintet. Though difficult to select one favorite,
I will go with the Pablo Casals performance on Sony.


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## DavidA

The ABQ is marvellous. In a totally different way is the version led by Heifetz


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## JACE

Count me as another person who thinks Schubert's String Quintet is a stinkin' masterpiece.

I only have/know one recording:










*Yo-Yo Ma / Cleveland Quartet (CBS)*

To my ears, the "Trout" is nice -- but this is a much, much more compelling composition.


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## GKC

The Alban Berg with Heinrich Schiff on EMI is just beautiful. I just checked on amazon and there are several used ones (CD's) for < 15.00 usd. One for 3.98 usd I believe.


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## nightscape

Anyone listen to the Jansen version? The sound quality, based on samples, seems to be terrific. Not sure about the performance. The CD cover is deceptively marketed as a Jansen-only CD, as though it's a recital-type of disc, but it actually contains the quintet as well as Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht.


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## aajj

A good buy is the Villa Musica Ensemble on Naxos. Plenty of passion and good sound. They also include a string trio, D581.

I have not heard any performance that can top that from 1952 featuring Casals,Tortelier, Stern, etc.


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## Woodduck

If we had nothing of Schubert but the slow movement of his quintet, we would still regard him as one of the greatest of composers, and we would be ransacking library basements and attics all over the world, searching frantically for the rest of his music.


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## KenOC

Woodduck said:


> If we had nothing of Schubert but the slow movement of his quintet, we would still regard him as one of the greatest of composers, and we would be ransacking library basements and attics all over the world, searching frantically for the rest of his music.


I think that's true. The really great composers show themselves clearly even in fragments, or at least in the right fragments. Something here totally original, totally compelling...


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## Balthazar

Woodduck said:


> If we had nothing of Schubert but the slow movement of his quintet, we would still regard him as one of the greatest of composers, and we would be ransacking library basements and attics all over the world, searching frantically for the rest of his music.


That reminds me of a scene from the recent Jim Jarmusch movie, _Only Lovers Left Alive_ about two centuries-old vampires living in modern-day Detroit and Tangiers played by Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, a musician. It goes something like this:

Swinton: I can't believe you let Schubert take credit for that string quintet you wrote.

Hiddleston: That's ok, I told him to... And I only gave him the Adagio.

:lol:


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## scratchgolf

My three favorite recordings are

Alban Berg /Schiff
Melos/Rostropovich
Pavel Haas/Ishizaka


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## Brahmsian Colors

I recommend a very satisfying performance by the Raphael Ensemble on Hyperion.


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## Pugg

scratchgolf said:


> My three favorite recordings are
> 
> Alban Berg /Schiff
> Melos/Rostropovich
> Pavel Haas/Ishizaka
> 
> View attachment 59880
> View attachment 59879
> View attachment 59878


Those will do it for me.


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## jegreenwood

I just listed ABQ/Schiff as a desert island disc. I have to put in a good word for the Casals recording from 1952. The Heifetz/Piatigorsky was my first version (from the LP era, but repurchased on CD), but it is really an outlier. I don't think it should be anyone's sole version. 

I recently picked up the Tokyo String Quartet's SACD, but only one listen to date.


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## Savino

I love the recorded version by the Hollywood String Quartet plus Kurt Reher (Capitol, reissued by Testament).


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## fluteman

DaDirkNL said:


> I've just discovered this terrifyingly beautiful work. The only version I know so far is one on Youtube, so does anybody have a favourite recording I should hear?


I'm not one for touting some obscure recording of a famous work and claiming it leaves the rest far behind, but imho this one, featuring the little-known and short lived Vellinger Quartet and the long-lived and well-known cellist Bernard Greenhouse late in his career, really does leave many more famous versions, including some mentioned in this thread, far behind. Try it and see what you think.


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## Merl

fluteman said:


> I'm not one for touting some obscure recording of a famous work and claiming it leaves the rest far behind, but imho this one, featuring the little-known and short lived Vellinger Quartet and the long-lived and well-known cellist Bernard Greenhouse late in his career, really does leave many more famous versions, including some mentioned in this thread, far behind. Try it and see what you think.
> View attachment 151752
> View attachment 151752


Agreed, it's a cracker and one of the best of the free BBC cds at the time.


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## mparta

Well, indeed.

First, I think it's a whole new piece with the bass. Changes the sound drastically, not just a little.

Second, I think it would take many hearings to get it, to be rid of preconceptions and decide whether this works.

Third, off with their heads!! Much easier to take a Red Queen's approach. I think it deforms the shape of the sound, which with a second cello remains tight/concise, but with the bass spreads asymmetrically to the lower end and becomes unbalanced.

The group plays well enough. I will give it a few more tries, but on a first pass, seems very odd.


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