126 DVD-A / L. v. Beethoven, String Quartets · Vol. 2 of 4 op. 59 no. 1 – 3, op. 74

6 reviews for 126 DVD-A / L. v. Beethoven, String Quartets · Vol. 2 of 4 op. 59 no. 1 – 3, op. 74

1. Australian Hi-Fi – 1. July 2007

   A unique exploration of Beethoven’s string quartets continues with this third volume from TACET, containing Op. 95 in F minor, Op. 127 in E-flat major, and Op. 132 in A minor. The reason a full DVD-A is required for only three quartets is that each is repeated twice – once in TACET’s “ultra-spatial” technique, in which the two violinists are positioned at the left and right front speakers, the violist at the left surround, and the cellist at the right surround; and then again in TACET’s “Moving Real Surround Sound” format, in which the musicians move around the listener as they play. Once I had suspended my disbelief, I found the MRSS performance highly interesting and very engaging. (…)
   John Sunier

2. Audiophile Audition – 18. May 2007

   The unique Beethoven Quartets series continues, with the players keeping their distance from one another...

   A unique exploration of Beethoven′s string quartets continues with this third volume from Tacet. DVD-A is the only way to accommodate 204 minutes on a single disc in multichannel, but the reason such time length is required is that although the three quartets only range from 20 to 45 minutes each, they are repeated twice on the disc - once in the ultra-spatial technique pioneered by the label′s CEO and engineer Andreas Spreer, which puts the two violinists at their respective left and right front speakers plus the violist at the left surround and the cellist at the right surround location; then on tracks 14 thru 26 the players are made to artificially move around occasionally in a fashion derived from the sense of the music itself. This is the Moving Real Surround Sound.

   Some listeners will undoubtedly think this is going too far in playing around with the spatial possibilities of multichannel delivery, and I must admit I′m in their camp. However, I find the Real Surround Sound presentation (tracks 1 - 13) to make the Beethoven quartets a more interesting and involving experience than I have ever found them previously - even when played by my favorite quartet, The Fine Arts. You may want to adjust the balance between the front and surround channels when playing this disc - I found the surrounds much higher level than the fronts. I was actually stretched out on my sofa for a couple of the quartets and it was a transporting experience. One feels as though you are in the midst of a string quartet practicing in your listening room. Spreer calls it "Within the Master′s Magic Circle." Those with matched frontal and surround speakers will realize the best sonic display from this disc. You will need DVD-Audio playback ability, because there doesn′t appear to be a Dolby Digital 5.1 option on this disc as on many other DVD-As - probably due to lack of room.

   The two late quartets show a major change in Beethoven′s approach to the earlier Op. 95 work. He was more profoundly deaf and the sometimes harsh juxtaposition of notes in them is thought to have been due to the composer not being able to try out some of the passages he imagined in his head and put down on paper. The five movements of Op. 132 (one of them only two minutes long!) constitute a compositional tour de force - much of it based on a tiny motif which is taken thru a very personal development over the 45-minute length of the quartet. The composer marked over the central slow movement of the quartet the phrase "Hymn of Thanksgiving," and the work concludes with a drawn-out and eloquent hymn which has a mood similar to the Ode to Joy of the Ninth Symphony, but without words or orchestration.

   John Sunier

3. Pizzicato – 1. May 2007

   Standards
   TACET continues its pioneering work with the DVD-Audio format, managing to fit almost 205 minutes of music onto a single disc. This is done in a double recording process. Each of the three quartets – in F minor, Op. 95; in E-flat major, Op. 127; and in A minor, Op. 132 – is recorded twice: first in Real Surround Sound, then in Moving Real Surround Sound.
   With the proper setup, one experiences a spatial performance that is hard to imagine being better.
   The interpretations by the Auryn Quartet – Matthias Lingenfelder and Jens Oppermann, Stewart Eaton, and Andreas Arndt – have already been duly praised in Pizzicato, so the conclusion can be drawn: these DVD-Audios set standards for the beginning of the 21st century, not only technically but also musically.
   GW

4. Ensemble – 1. February 2007

   True Sovereignty
   Beethoven’s F minor String Quartet, Op. 95, while thematically belonging to the Rasumovsky quartets and thus to the composer’s “middle” period, already ventures content-wise into the borderlands of his late string quartets. It is therefore only consistent to separate this merely 20-minute work from its predecessors in a recording and perform it together with the late E-flat or A minor quartet. The Auryn Quartet takes this step in the present audio DVD – and impresses with a solid, thoroughly successful recording. Already released as a stereo CD, it was award-winning, receiving among others the “Classical Internet Award.” With the new technology enabling “moving real surround sound,” the listening pleasure multiplies: with a sufficient number of speakers connected, the sound can be made to “move” in a circle. A feature that suits these works with their indeterminate direction, their compressed brevity, and philosophical clarity. The Auryn musicians perform the late Beethoven as he must be played: austere, severe, yet at the same time imbued with an effortlessness that generates true sovereignty.
   Rafael Sala

5. Pizzicato – 1. September 2005

   A Masterpiece
   With four double CD or DVD-Audio recordings, the Auryn Quartet from Cologne has completed the complete cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets. We were able to listen to Volumes 1 and 3. These recordings and interpretations can be counted among the best available today.
   Technically: The new surround recording technique gives the instrumentalists a presence and immediacy rarely heard and also creates a balance between them of the highest subtlety. Above all, however, it confirms the quality of the playing: there is no trembling or hesitation; every note is natural and rounded.
   The long playing time of the DVD recording results from the fact that the works are recorded in two different formats, Real Surround Sound on the one hand and Moving Real Surround Sound on the other: TACET is guiding the future.
   Interpretatively: The Auryn Quartet achieves a new, truly “contemporary” interpretation of Beethoven’s quartet music.
   In the early quartets of Op. 18, the extremely precise and clear articulation and accentuation stand out. The engagement with the score is optimal, and the attention to detail is astonishing. Yet this does not impede the flow of the playing, while the joy of the four musicians becomes a listening pleasure.
   In Volume 3, there is no attempt to smooth out the complexity and even austerity of the Quartetto serioso, Op. 95, and the late quartets, Op. 127 and Op. 132. On the contrary, these elements are laid bare. Beethoven is thus revealed anew before us in his struggle for appropriate expression, for mastering large forms, and for shaping complexity with new means.
   Matthias Lingenfelder and Jens Oppermann, violin; Stewart Eaton, viola; and Andreas Arndt, cello, play brilliantly and with authority. They know how to listen to each other and convey both the complexity and the timeless beauty of the music (cf. the Adagio from Op. 127). Their own enthusiasm is also contagious, for as a listener, one can only share it and recognize with full admiration that the musicians and recording engineers have accomplished a masterpiece.
   GW

6. Klassik heute – 1. January 2005

   Without exaggeration, it can be said: with these late Beethoven string quartets, the Auryn Quartet achieves the square of the circle. With lovingly meticulous attention to detail, they have developed a reflective, well-tested, thoroughly considered reading of these compositions, and yet they have not lost their sense of wonder. An infectious enthusiasm, a communicative joy, draws the listener into the spell of a shared musical adventure. By now, all of Beethoven’s quartets have been released on CD by TACET, each on two CDs. And not only that: the works of Op. 18 have just been released on a DVD with an astonishing 312 minutes of playing time – because the interpretations are included twice, once in Real Surround Sound, then in TACET’s Moving Real Surround Sound, which is based on the idea that the sound should follow the musical ideas, i.e., the “settings” of the sound can change. Musical direction, in other words, built on the performers’ interpretation.