|
|
Tarfumes.com - Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Borodin: Quartets
|
List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $8.99
Your Save: $ 0.99 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0028944555127
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
Release Date: 1995-10-17
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
The Emersons offer one of the very best accounts of the popular American Quartet on disc. It is dramatic, exuberant, persuasive, and right to the point--a well-paced reading full of ravishing details (like the dueting of the violins in the slow movement) that has been beautifully recorded. Originally made for Book-of-the-Month Club in 1984, the recording was later picked up by DG and first released in the U.S. in 1990. For this reissue, it has been coupled with equally well-played accounts of quartets by Borodin and Tchaikovsky, which makes for an especially well-filled CD. --Ted Libbey
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Streamlined from Russia -- not for everyone
Comment: The string quartets of Dvorak and Borodin are among the lushest and easy-to-listen music in the genre, romanticism for every ear. Because of the hummable tunes in the Borodin 2nd (lifted wholesale to become part of the Broadway musical, Kismet) and the folsy vigor of Dvorak's "American" Quartet #12, most performers emphasize this lushness. Not the Emersons, whose readings here are clean and streamlined. They don't dig deep into the wood the way the Alban berg Qt. do. Their is the patented Emerson virtuosity at work, though, with impeccable intonation and matched timbres.
For me, the effect was refreshing, particularly in the Borodin, which hwere gets a performance that never threatens to become gooey. The Dvorak is a mite too efficient and far removed form its folk inspiration, yet still impressive technically. Its buoyancy creates a great deal of enjoyment. I've never been able to warm up to Tchaikovsky's quartet writing, but here again the Emersons go for clean lines over Russian luxuriousness.
In all, a very appealing CD that groups three favorites in vintage Emerson Qt. performances. Very good sound, too.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What an artificial performance it is!
Comment: Dvorak is just okay. Not a superior performance to their rivals, but it's just about the average. Nothing special. Nothing to comment.
Tchaikovsky? Again, no noteworthy point to make here.
Borodin? This is certainly one of the poorest performance of this music on the CD that I've ever heard. The problem is the Notturno movent.
here we have something very unpleasant music making here. The Emersons probably think that the movement is to be played with full of emotion and involvement. They may be right. But, playing this popular movement with emotional involvement does not mean that it is to be played very slowly and dully. What are they aiming at? What are they "thinking" when they treat this movement in a totally no-brainer way?
They are probaly perfect in terms of their technical flawless. But I always witness thet they do not seem to have found the way to play certain music. In short words, no attachment, no careful studying of the score, no soul. There only remains an artificial performance of the music. Good pretenders, but single CD from them has never moved me.
Beethoven quartets set was another joke.
Well.... but I cannot live without their Schostakovich. Yes, they are all not that bad anyway.
BTW, if it comes down to Borodin's second quartet, the Cleveland Quartet is my first pick.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A genuine surprise.
Comment: Though I'd heard of Borodin before, I hadn't realized what a wonderful composer he truly was. The second movement of his second quartet is revelatory, and this recording of it (compared to others I've heard since) is definitive for its clarity, tenderness, and directness of expression.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent music, excellent renditions
Comment: Most people viewing this item probably haven't heard of Borodin before, and I must assure such people that the Borodin quartet on this recording is more than worth listening to! The star of these three compositions is, of course, the American quartet, which is legendary. Though I haven't listened to any other performers playing the quartet, the Emerson Quartet's sound is exquisite, with each detail executed to perfection. You can't expect much else - the Emerson Quartet is always great.
I usually don't like Tchaikovsky, but the quartet on this recording is wonderfully melodic. And together, these three quartets on one CD make for one great purchase.
Great sound, great performance, great music - at a great price. What else could you ask for?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding performances of popular quartets.
Comment: These three quartets are probably the most popular, and most appealing, quartets written by non-Germanic composers. The slow movements of the Tchaikovsky and Borodin quartets are exceptionally beautiful and so popular that they are often played as separate pieces in a variety of arrangements. The Emerson Quartet does full justice to them in their original settings. They also give a fine performance of Dvorak's "American" Quartet which is his most popular piece of chamber music. To have outstanding performances of all three of these justly-popular quartets available on one mid-priced CD makes this a rare treat, and a bargain as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
