Amadeus Quartet - Haydn, Schubert, Brahms 1951-1957 [7CD Box Set] (2004)

The Amadeus Quartet was one of the premier chamber ensembles for much of its 40-year life, its members refugees from Vienna who landed on their feet in pre-war London. This budget box in DG’s Original Masters series features the group’s Westminster and DG recordings made during the years 1951-57. Listeners familiar with the Amadeus’ later stereo recordings may be surprised at the higher level of energy displayed back then, the quartet’s members still in their late 20s in 1951. Not that they ever approach the vitality of contemporaries like the Juilliard Quartet, evidenced by their somewhat heavy Haydn, but there’s more life and fewer intonation problems than I recall from the Amadeus’ later DG recordings and concerts.

Three of the seven discs are devoted to nine Haydn quartets, including a successful quartet version of The Seven Last Words. Here, first violinist Norbert Brainin’s tone displays occasional vulnerability that fits the music. The six slow movements are done with sufficient intensity, and the final Presto is exciting. The spurious Op. 3 No. 5 is appropriately Haydnesque, with a particularly fetching Andante cantabile. Stereo helps make Op. 54 No. 1 and the Op. 64 No. 3 convincing–the rest of the set’s in mono. Other Haydns include two from Op. 74, Op. 54 No. 2, Op. 77 No. 1, and the fragmentary Op. 103. They’re all enjoyable and were judged quite good in their day, but we’ve become spoiled for outstanding Haydn Quartet performances and these interpretations and playing now have a higher caloric content than is currently desirable.

Schubert was an Amadeus repertoire mainstay. Six of his quartets are here, including a very good performance of the Quartettsatz D. 703 and a “Death and the Maiden” relatively free of the Viennese whipped cream that this ensemble often lathered on. Despite a hurried opening to the Quartet No. 13 D. 804 (“Rosamunde”), the Andante is well done, and in the last of the canon, the 15th quartet, the players bring an Old World charm to the soft-core Scherzo–and their slow movement is one of the set’s highlights. Mendelssohn’s Op. 81 Capriccio is a nice filler. Best of all, though, is the Brahms–all three of his quartets, played with a ripeness and warmth that makes them the most satisfying performances in the box. The middle movements are especially outstanding.

The decently done transfers preserve evidence either of tape degradation or the fact that the original recordings weren’t among the best of their time. It’s all very listenable though, and although everything here has been superceded by more recent recordings, admirers of the Amadeus Quartet and/or chamber fans with a penchant for historical recordings will want this set.