Repertoire: Dvořák String Quartets--The GREATEST Set

[@TURONGsCZ]

Thanks David, finally someome who sees that 4th quartet is a freaking masterpiece!

[@AlexMadorsky]

You make an excellent point about Dvorak being an all-around genius - symphonies (despite my personal distaste for the 7th), quartets, winds and (snare roll please)...tone poems! I think Dvorak is a criminally underrated tone poet. I could listen to The Water Goblin every day. I realize this makes me a weirdo, but it’s true nonetheless.

[@ThreadBomb]

I haven't warmed to his tone poems, but if the middle movements of the 4th symphony were detached and presented as overtures, I might make an exception!

[@AlexMadorsky]

Thread Bomb there are occasions where I think the 4th is actually my favorite Dvorak symphony, but I’ll always be a soft touch when it comes to The New World.

[@fulltongrace7899]

I love the Water Goblin too.

[@gregorycooper3132]

The tone poems are dope!! All four of them!

[@simonalbrecht9435]

Interesting, the seventh symphony is my favourite!

[@fieldHunter61]

recently went to purchase the American and it happened to come with the 13th. I listen to the 13th as much as the 12th if not more. Look forward to listening to his other 12 for the first time.

[@jsh31425]

Dave, thanks so much for opening my eyes to Dvorak. Up until recently, with the exception of the Stabat Mater (which speaks to my soul), I maintained a blind eye to his work, and just heard it as "generic romantic." How strange, given that I love people like Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Janacek, whose voices seem completely distinctive to me! Now I'm listening to a lot of Dvorak, trying to get his voice under my skin. These quartets will be a major part of that process. (The development section of the first movement of #1 has already shocked me by its greatness.) I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for your videos, so you really do have my gratitude.

[@patdaley9098]

We did the Dvorak Stabat Mater a few years ago. Out tenor soloist loves it. I never quite warmed up to it, myself but I like the later symphonies.

[@carlconnor5173]

Love those Cypresses! I have 6 of the quartets on 2 old Vox boxes. I’ll have to find the others. David, you’re a great champion of Dvorak’s genius. I appreciate that very much! I’ll have to get that Panocha set!

[@richardfrankel6102]

What a wonderful talk; I hope it turned many, many viewers on to this glorious music. I agree with your ranking of the three cycles. I grew up with the Prague Quartet cycle on Lp, and only realized its limitation when I heard the Panocha. (In all fairness, I think the Prague's heaviness is exaggerated by their recorded sound, which is so resonant that we could almost be listening to transcriptions for string orchestra.) I really love the Vlach Qt. Prague's cycle on Naxos single discs. They certainly don't dethrone the Panocha, but their more trenchant rustic approach makes for an enlightening counterpoint to the Panocha's elegance and flow: listening to either one often sends me scurrying to the other. Not a bad way to spend an hour or two! And my Desert Island Discs of Dvorak quartets? Without question, the Kocian Quartet's two Denon CDs of Qts. 10, 12, 13, & 14. If only they'd recorded a complete cycle.

[@allthisuselessbeauty-kr7]

Love his String Quartet No.9 (a beautiful work) and the unjustly neglected Wind Serenade too! Cheers

[@fulltongrace7899]

The development section of 1st movement 9th quartet is breathtaking, rising to an intense climax.

[@jimyoung9262]

Great video. I love Dvorak. He was such a genius tunesmith.

[@nivagnoswal]

i love dvorak and his string quartets make the best company when you alone at night or anytime...

[@dianamcdougall9251]

I have the Prague String Quartet complete set and they're phenomenal.

[@hiphurrah1]

interesting topic, what makes a good tune. But indeed, it's quite useless to talk about it for long, some have it, some don't. But there is one element that is quite essential in a composition for me, and thats the suprise element, something you don't expect, surprise in rhythm, harmony, development etc. And ofcourse the tune itself must appeal.Haydn was a master in that matter. Great stuff, the Dvorak quartets!!

[@patdaley9098]

I have the later quartets and Cypresses by the new Vlach Quartet of Prague. I like them, especially no. 10. Unfortunately, they are not in a single box. I may have t get the earlier ones.

[@glennsolva1567]

I have the Dvořák string quartets with the Prag string quartet on vinyl. A truly lovely set. ❤

[@moviedave2001]

I gave a copy of the American to a friend of mine, a fellow film person. He agreed that parts of the first movement sound like the score to every other western made during the golden age.

[@johnwright7749]

Another great discussion! I don’t have them all, but really enjoy the ones I have: Panocha in 10 and 13, Takacs in 14 (their earlier recording for Decca, superior to their remake for Hyperion) and best of all, the Skampa in the American along with the American String Quintet.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

All great stuff!

[@2906nico]

Your advocacy of Dvorak makes me very happy. I've always been a bit wary of the quartets but I'm fired up now. I recently grappled with a couple of the operas, Dmitrij, and King and Charcoal Burner. I have to say, neither struck me as first rate Dvorak. You don't review much opera. How about doing an overview of them? Or a video about the first four symphonies, which I have never liked as much as the ones that followed.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I want to, buy I don't want to make this the Dvorak channel when there's so much else to discuss too. I will get to them.

[@johnmontanari6857]

The Panocha performances are lovely -- such a suave sound and elegant style. Nonetheless, I marginally prefer the Vlach series on Naxos (available only as separates, it seems). Their style is a bit more brusque, with sharper accents and crisper rhythms, though they can also be sweet as honey. And strictly personally, I prefer their first violinist's sound to that of the Panocha's. Anyhow, thanks for the nudge to reacquaint myself to some of the early quartets, for which I know have greater appreciation.

[@ThreadBomb]

Yes, I like their folksy character. Have you heard the Stamitz quartet? I went for them when I realised it would cost to much to collect all the Vlach.

[@johnmontanari6857]

@@ThreadBomb I have their CDs, liked them at the time, and used to play them on the radio. But I haven't listened to them in many years. They're on my streaming services -- maybe I'll pop one up.

[@Jeffsterpal]

When he is talking about the 7th and 8th quartets around 9:10, the section he plays is from 7th string quartet in A minor’s finale! Not No. 8 in E major.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Oops.

[@Jeffsterpal]

@@DavesClassicalGuideI loved your video and I appreciate all you do!

[@Sulsfort]

Returned to this video to decide, which one to hear. Now it's no. 4 (with the Stamitz Quartet).

[@saltyfellow]

Hello dave! Are bruckner quartets great? They worth a review? Thank you so much for the great work!!!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

No. The Quintet is a major work. The Quartet is student garbage.

[@davidgoulden5956]

Greetings David. Working my way through all your chats. One per evening. (Will skip the Schostakovitch talks, though. Ugh.) You are so right about, Dvorak. He is consistently wonderful. The Wood Dove. The Nocturne for strings. The Cypresses. The Fifth and Sixth symphonies. The piano concerto. I could go and on... Best, David.

[@ggannuch]

Another interesting discussion. I'll have to round out my collection of the Panocha quartets, I have a couple discs already. Are their other Dvorak chamber collections, also now boxed up, as good? And thanks for organizing your talks into playlists.

[@The_Composer]

Nice touch that the video ends al 18:41...

[@jorgereynosopholenz2865]

Are you planning to address in your KZbin series the Quartets by Schostakovich? If so, surely you are about to recommend the Pacifica Quartet version, but I am sure also that your insight will be interesting and, frankly, funny, like: "Nobody cares who was the Soviet Minister of Culture at the time, the stuff that matters is the Music!"

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I will get to them, and the Pacifica is a great series, but there are others as well. I'm not sure who my final recommendation will be.

[@UlfilasNZ]

@@DavesClassicalGuide I hope the Emersons make it into the mix! They seem to be out of fashion these days, but I still think they bring something unique to the table (that combination of intensity and extreme virtuosity).

[@moviedave2001]

@@UlfilasNZ no one can touch the Emersons in the 9th!

[@UlfilasNZ]

Mozart possibly?? That is an interesting comparison though, it does seem there weren't any other composers at the end of the 19th century with the range of Dvorak. Hadn't thought about that. But after Beethoven, the greatest string quartet composer was Shostakovich.

[@moviedave2001]

Agree about Shostakovich.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

But Shostakovich came after Dvorak. I'm taking it chronologically. In any case, much as I love Shostakovich, I would disagree.

[@UlfilasNZ]

@@DavesClassicalGuide That's all good, the differences are great. I would be fascinated by a Ring Cycle discussion after all the Wagner controversy! I actually Googled "Hurwitz Ring Cycle" and the first three that came up were Krauss, Levine and Barenbom. Which I thought was interesting. Now I'm listening to the Dvorak Piano Quintet with Andras Schiff, and I'm in heaven.

[@dianamcdougall9251]

Shostakovich's string quartets are very good but Dvorak's are my preference between the two, comparatively speaking.

[@lukesinclair4337]

The early quartets... A bit rambling, no real dead spots, spontaneously flowing... Sounds like great Road Music David!

[@jean-lucbernhardt8545]

This is what writes an individual, listener of the integral Panocha : "But I am surprised at being the first to comment on the distractingly bad recorded sound. What I object to are the shrill sound from the first violin and tubby sound from the cello. I turned down the treble control by 6 dB to get some relief. The engineering crew let down the musicians -- and the listeners -- in this one" What do you think about that ? Début du comparatif à 14 mn. Thank you for all 🙏🙏

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I think it's nonsense.

[@jean-lucbernhardt8545]

@@DavesClassicalGuide I thought like you, thanks Dave, for your answer 🙏 , he has a problem with its hifi devices concerning the too full of treble 😮

[@vdtv]

Such a pity the Chilingirian series never made it to a complete cycle. Don't know if they lost interest or the plug was pulled from the project, but what there is is delectable.

[@hiphurrah1]

I once was at a concert by the Borodin quartet, playing Schubert. They didnt look happy either, they didnt connect to each other, and so it sounded, stiff...very disappointing.

[@shostakovich343]

I wonder what iteration of the quartet that was. The 1950's originals (probably not), the ~1980's group, or what currently passes for the Borodins?

[@hiphurrah1]

@@shostakovich343 well, the most recent members (wikipedia), shortly after the concert i read that primarius Ruben Aharonyan had to quit due to health problems, don't know how the situation these days is, i don't see any upcoming concerts. In the Shostakovich quartet no.15 they were ok, but still a bit too rigid (for my taste), the concert ended in darkness, as if the music wasnt depressive enough...i think the Ebène Quartet is a much more subtle and great sounding quartet. Seems they really enjoy what they're playing.

[@shostakovich343]

@@hiphurrah1 I wholly agree with you. Remarkably, the Borodins are the exact opposite of what David describes in this video. The original Soviet players made some blazing recordings of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich in the most dour of times, besides those demonic Brahms recordings on Teldec shortly after the Wall fell, whilst the 21st-century players sound utterly joyless. I was shocked by their heavy and lumpish recording of Haydn's Op. 33 on Onyx, which was badly recorded to boot. Anyhow, just do not forget about their various predecessors. They, at least, formed a great quartet.

[@hiphurrah1]

@@shostakovich343 Thanks for your insight!