The Amadeus Quartet, the greatest Central European string quartet of the middle years of the twentieth century, would never do anything so gauche as to record all 82 of Haydn's string quartets. After all, the first 19 were youthful works wherein Haydn figured out exactly how to compose a string quartet. What the Amadeus would do is record Haydn's mature string quartets, which still leaves 63 of the best string quartets ever composed. In these recordings of the 19 quartets from Op. 51 through 74 from the '70s, the Amadeus ...
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The Amadeus Quartet, the greatest Central European string quartet of the middle years of the twentieth century, would never do anything so gauche as to record all 82 of Haydn's string quartets. After all, the first 19 were youthful works wherein Haydn figured out exactly how to compose a string quartet. What the Amadeus would do is record Haydn's mature string quartets, which still leaves 63 of the best string quartets ever composed. In these recordings of the 19 quartets from Op. 51 through 74 from the '70s, the Amadeus Quartet has once again turned in ideal recordings of supreme poise and ethereal grace. The Amadeus Quartet was always at its best in Beethoven, Mozart, and, especially, Haydn, the ensemble's combination of elegance, energy, intellect, and wit being a superb match for the music's. Each work -- the gay "Lark," the driven "Rider," the hard "Razor," the profound "Seven Last Words" -- gets the royal treatment from the Amadeus Quartet and deluxe treatment from Deutsche Grammophon's stereo...
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