COMPOSERS: Bartok
LABELS: Teldec
WORKS: String Quartet No. 1; String Quartet No. 2; String Quartet No. 3; String Quartet No. 4; String Quartet No. 5; String Quartet No. 6
PERFORMER: Eder Quartet
CATALOGUE NO: 0630-12334-2 (1981)
It’s a cliché that we expect Hungarian musicians to play Bartók with authority, and yet the Eder Quartet’s 1980 recordings of these masterly works do seem especially sympathetic to the music’s great technical and interpretative demands. There may not be the sheer gritty involvement (nor the sense of instrumental colour) that characterised the famous set made eight years later by the Emerson Quartet, and the recording is rather dry and uninvolving; but at budget price you could do a lot worse, even though Teldec’s stingy booklet has no programme notes. Stephen Maddock
Bartok: String Quartet No. 1; String Quartet No. 2; String Quartet No. 3; String Quartet No. 4; String Quartet No. 5; String Quartet No. 6
It’s a cliché that we expect Hungarian musicians to play Bartók with authority, and yet the Eder Quartet’s 1980 recordings of these masterly works do seem especially sympathetic to the music’s great technical and interpretative demands. There may not be the sheer gritty involvement (nor the sense of instrumental colour) that characterised the famous set made eight years later by the Emerson Quartet, and the recording is rather dry and uninvolving; but at budget price you could do a lot worse, even though Teldec’s stingy booklet has no programme notes. Stephen Maddock
Our rating
3
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:06 pm