The String Quartets - Quatuor Sine Nomine (5CD Box Set) | Classical Music Collection for Home Listening & Gifts

Except for the last four, the string quartets of Schubert tend to be overlooked, which is a shame as they are a vital record of his development as a composer, and enjoyable in their own right. Perhaps the issue is that, like the early symphonies, they are essentially Classical pieces, which quality admirers of his last and most Romantic works perceive as a failing.Although this is fringe repertoire, there are ten recordings of the complete cycle by the following quartets: Verdi, Leipziger, Auryn, Melos, Diogenes and Kodaly are the most widely available. The others are Taneyev, Coull, Vienna String Quartet and the Quatuor Sine Nomine ("quartet without a name"). The Quatuor Sine Nomine have also recorded the great String Quintet, but sadly that is not included in this collection.The performances here of the late quartets are all excellent. They may not displace your old favourites, but they are played with understanding, affection, exemplary technique, and a distinct personality. I especially like their Rosamunde, which I place with my favourites beside the Italiano's Death & the Maiden, and the Hungarian's EMI recording of the last quartet.But if you are considering a complete set of the quartets, you probably already have satisfactory versions of the late ones, and are more interested in the earlier items. Overall, the Sine Nomine are the best of all the available options. Their playing has both finesse and energy, and the sound is generally rich and satisfying.For me, the highlight of this set is quartet 3 (D.36). This is the best performance I've heard, and it elevates the work to the status of masterpiece. One point of interest is that the main theme of each movement seems to subtlely derive from Haydn's 'Emperor' tune. More remarkable is the resemblance of Schubert's opening theme to one that pops up in the 1st mvt of Beethoven's op.135 (at around 1:45). Since Schubert died before Beethoven wrote his work, and Beethoven would not have heard Schubert's juvenilia, this can only be called a spooky coincidence.In quartets 5 (D.68) and '10' (D.87), the Sine Nomine seem less involved, but fortunately the slack is picked up by the Verdi Quartett. Their set is less polished overall, but they are at the top of their game here. In D.68, they bring out the Beethovenian influence better than anyone. (This quartet references Beethoven several times, and the 2nd mvt specifically references the famous 'scherzoso' andante from 18:4.) The Verdi group would, overall, be my second choice in this repertoire.You ought to hear the Lindsays' recording of 8 (D.112) - their extraordinary performance of the slow movement (the slowest on record except for the old Italiano recording) shows this "juvenile" work has undeniable kinship with the late works at their most haunted and timeless. The Lindsays have a mixed reputation, but this is one of their more couth performances, and must be the prime recommendation for this work. (Though I am not a fan of their accompanying Rosamunde.)By comparison with the above recordings, the Leipziger Streichquartett's performances are what I believe the young people would call "weaksauce", mincing a little too much, too slow in the prestos, and lacking the emphasis that would impart a sense of direction to the music. Notably, they include the D.471 trio for strings, including the andante fragment (no-one has yet realised that the andante would make a great intro to the allegro).The Leipziger recording of the four-movement trio D.581 is only available on a separate disc with the Trout quintet. This worthy divertimento (perhaps to be combined with D.471 as an answer to Mozart's K.563?) is rare on disc; your best option is Ensemble Villa Musica on Naxos.Unlike the Sine Nomine, both Verdi and Leipziger include the early 'quartettsatz' D.103 (the surviving fragment of a lost quartet) -- BUT they do not use any of the existing completions, so that the movement ends with jarring abruptness (after a trill which seems borrowed from the finale of Beethoven's 59/3), which makes for an unsatisfying listening experience. Strange that they are so over-scrupulous here, but play the inner movements of D.87 in the traditional, and wrong, order. (Publisher Czerny put the scherzo before the adagio, contrary to Schubert's manuscript and usual practice.)The recording of D.103 by the Melos Quartett is probably your best option for this work, but there are also recordings by Juilliard (not on CD), Kodaly, Vienna String Quartet, Diogenes and Maggini. All play the Orel completion, except Diogenes, who play a completion by Starke, and Maggini, who commissioned the Newbould completion.Of the other complete sets available, I enjoyed vol.1 of the Coull cycle. They don't have quite the finesse of Sine Nomine, but occasionally find a bit more depth of feeling in the slow movements. It's a shame this set is only available as single discs.The Melos Quartett suffer from poor sound by comparison with the others, and use rather more vibrato than we are used to today.The recent Diogenes set on Brilliant may appeal to those who love "historically informed" performances (moreso in their later volumes), but I find their approach a bit heartless, which is fatal in Schubert.One slight problem with the Sine Nomine set is the sound, specifically the tonal profile. Listening on headphones I find the sound a bit edgy. If you have a multi-band equaliser you can correct for this without too much trouble (the top of the mid-range is too prominent, the bottom of the mid-range is too quiet), but ideally this set should be remastered. As things stand, the unmodified sound is clear, nicely staged, and very listenable on speakers, but I am niggled by the fact that it could be better.To conclude, this set by the Quatuor Sine Nomine is your best option for Schubert's early string quartets, though you may want to look elsewhere to supplement the miscellaneous fragments and a couple of the quartets.(Apart from the liner notes of various CD releases, I am also indebted for this review to a series of three articles on the quartets written by Larius J Ussi which appeared in the Chamber Music Journal 2003-4.)