Gramophone Notes -
Records of Chamber Music
WITH the exception of a Finale to the Quartet in B Flat, Op. 130 and an isolated Rondo, the String Quartet in F Major, Op. 133 was the last piece of music that Beethoven com- pleted. It is the most mature achievement of his final period : in every respect it is a masterpiece, in which all the defects of experiment have been eliminated. Taste for all the products of that phase, and particularly so for the last five great quartets, is for most people acquired only with intimacy. But once the taste is formed, the quartets of other composers, and notably those of Schubert and Brehm, seem empty and trivial by comparison. The complexity and severity of idiom and manner that were developed in its predecessors, and found a final expression in the Crone Fugue. Op. 133, were to some extent relaxed in the F Major Quartet, and it therefore provides the best introduction for those who have still to acquire familiarity with the period. The new recording, by the Busch String Quartet (H.M.V. DB2113-6, 24s.), is an admirable one; one cannot too much commend the sensitiveness of their interpretation and the flexibility of their playing. The String Quartet in C, Op. 59, No. 3 (the third " Rasoumofsky " Quartet) which the Busch Quartet also play (H.M.V. DB2109-12, 24s.) belongs to Beethoven's middle period. - It is the gayest of the three quartets which Beethoven wrote during 1806 and 1807 and dedicated to Prince Rasoumofsky. It is an odd example of poetic justice that this quartet, which excited perhaps the most hostile criticism of all Beethoven's works on its first performance and on publication, should have become the most popular not only of the quartets, but possibly of all Beethoven's compositions that are immune from public massacre by cinema orchestras and their allies. It is a delight- ful work, and the Busch Quartet's is a delightful performance of it. There are no better reproductions of these two quartets in existence.
As Beethoven's String Quartets are the finest examples in that category of Chamber Music, so his sonatas for violin and piano are the finest that that genre of music has to offer. The two sonatas that Adolf Busch and Rudolf Serkin have recently recorded, Sonata in F, Op. 24, No. 5 (the " Spring " Sonata) and Sonata in C Minor, Op. 30, No. 2 (H.M.V. DB1970-5, 36s.), both belong, to preserve a convenient classification which holds good of the chamber music if perilously of any- thing else, to Beethoven's first period. They make less demands on the intelligence of the listener than do the quartets, but have almost as much to offer: The playing is on the same level as that of the quartets. All these four sets can be recommended without -reservation.
Schubert's Quartet in A Minor, Op. 29 does not gain by com- parison with either of the Beethoven quartets. It was written in 1824 when Schubert was visiting the Esterhazys at Zselesz. His impressions of Hungary are reflected in the fourth move- ment, which takes its colour from traditional Hungarian dances and songs. The main theme of the second movement is that of the best known of the Rosarnunde Entr'actes. The first movement is over-dramatic, and the third, a minuet-and- trio, is a charming interlude which is more enjoyable than the rest of the quartet. The Kolisch Quartet who play it have not, so far as I am aware, made any records before, and they have neither the tone nor the balance of the Busch Quartet. The recording, too, is not up to the highest standard of
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