Haydn, Bennewitz String Quartet, and Supraphon

Haydn's string quartets are not music to stir the soul. Nor do they tear at the emotions like much of the music of Mahler or Shostakovich. They are just music to listen to with enjoyment. I have been listening (with enjoyment) to the G major (Op 17 no.5), E flat major (Op 33 no.2) and C major (Op 54 no.2) string quartets in a new recording on Supraphon by the Bennewitz String Quartet, recorded during the past couple of years. I am an admirer of the string playing tradition of the Czechs, often heard at its finest in chamber music. The Bennewitz Quartet does not let the side down; this is warm, affectionate playing. For me: Haydn as he should be played, with no exaggerated dynamics such as one gets with quartets such as the Hagen Quartett.

When listening to recordings of chamber music, I often despair of my loudspeakers, where the bass part booms and the violins sound thin, scrawny, and distant. Not so here; the Supraphon recording and balance are demonstration class for string quartet recordings, and the sound reproduces beautifully on my Spendor speakers, avoiding the need for my wireless headphones. Supraphon could give lessons to the sound contractors of music conglomerates such as Universal, or Warner, where one gets the impression that the contractor records a rock group on Monday, a string trio on Tuesday, a folk singer with back-up on Wednesday, and a violin and piano duet on Thursday. Recording classical music demands a recording team that understands balance, and understands acoustic space, and classical music. Haydn's music is wonderful here. The Bennewitz String Quartet is wonderful here. And Supraphon completes the trio for a really successful CD. It will go in my "keep near at hand" rack.

Violin & Piano Classics

Many years ago, I compiled a collection of "A personal and subjective selection of great violin playing 1926-98". The collection comprised 46 short works for violin and piano ("salon or encore pieces"). Such works are now rarely found in concerts, and even broadcasts and recordings favour more "weighty" works for violin and piano. A shame, since there is much really memorable music in these short pieces.

It was so good to listen again to so many favourite recordings: Kreisler in Mendelssohn's "May Breeze" (1926). Dinicu playing his "Hora Staccato" (1928). Bustabo in Paganini's 5th capriccio (1935). Hassid in Sarasate's "Playera" (1940). Elman in Dvorak's "Slavonic Fantasy" (1947). Roby Lakatos in "Ochi Chornyje" (1998). Elman in Espéjo's "Airs Tziganes" (1948). Seidel and Korngold in Korngold's "Gartenszene" (1941). Eudice Shapiro in Ravel's "Kaddish" (1956). Ricci in "Recuerdos de l'Alhambra" (1978).Taschner in Sarasate's "Zigeunerweisen" (1944). Enescu in a Largo by Pugnani (1929). Seidel in Brahms' first Hungarian Dance (1938). Rabin in Scriabin's "Étude in Thirds" (1959). Menuhin in Rimsky-Korsakov's "Song of the Bride" (1930). And so on, for piece after piece. A veritable cornucopia of enjoyable music. Interesting, also, to note how individual most of the playing came over, with an almost immediate identification of the violinist concerned. Play the pieces above with even the best of modern violinists, one would need notes to identify who was playing what. In the old days, vibrato was individual. Tempi were individual. Rubato was individual. Bowing was individual. Violin teachers have ironed out all these idiosyncrasies so that all violinists now play beautifully and accurately in exactly the same manner.