I’m happy to say – though surprised to find myself writing it
given my unhappy experience with previous releases in the series
– that this GROC restoration of the Late Quartets is by and large
very acceptable indeed.
The protagonists
are the Busch, more than which one needs to add little, except
to note – in a hushed, hesitant, rather recusant sort of way
- that not everything written about this august body of recordings
stands up to scrutiny. And admiration, even devotion, to the
spiritual elevation of the Busch way does not invalidate admiration
of other quartets of the time. I appreciate that, for example,
the Léner Quartet’s way is now seen as a rather vibrato-laden,
unintellectual, perhaps generic approach to the cycle of quartets;
in some ways the antipode of the Busch. But these things are
not binary and the Léner recordings still hold a kind of dominion
over my affections whenever I need their powerfully expressive
tonal breadth. The one does not invalidate the other.
That said the Abbey
Road recordings were always boxy and they didn’t especially
flatter the Busch’s timbre, corporate or individual. The American-recorded
sides – Op.130 and the Grosse Fuge, in Weingartner’s arrangement
and played by the Busch Chamber Players – are adequate but the
restoration is certainly no improvement over a previous LP transfer
on CBS from way back.
The performances
are imbued with the greatest sense of elevation and are amongst
the most famous on record. There are only a few points where
I feel – and have always felt – that Adolf Busch’s veneration
carries him to excess. One is certainly the Molto adagio
of Op.132, a locus classicus of Busch’s long bow – exceeded
by Zimbalist certainly but still a special weapon in Busch’s
violinistic armoury. But not only does the Busch take nearly
twenty minutes over it, but also its heavenly length comes at
a cost of forward momentum and the retardation is, to me, precisely
what the music doesn’t need. The quartet had a tendency to do
this; their New York recording of the slow movement of Op.59
No.2 tended to exemplify the same failing. Their fast tempi
in outer movements, animated by crisp rhythmic drive, is splendidly
conceived however; only occasionally do they render too much
latitude as in Op.132.
The other aspect
worth noting in passing is the fallible nature of the Chamber
orchestra recording, which is hardly the last word in scrupulous
attention to detail. In places it’s downright sloppy.
There are now a
large number of choices available for these recording. Dutton
is issuing the Busch recordings disc by disc – slightly treble
dampened but smooth; for example the recent release of Op.131
coupled with Op.59. No3 [Dutton CDBP 9773]. Preiser has issued
a two-disc set of Op. 52 No.3 and Opp. 59 No.3, 95, 131 and
132 [90172] (unheard by me). EMI of course, has been active
in a previous Andrew Walter incarnation from 1994 – though these
didn’t include the American recordings [CHS5 65308-2]. Pearl’s
noisier set included Op.95 and the late quartets on three well-filled
discs [GEMS 0053].
If you’ve never
heard these recordings and can sort out the problems inherent
in the Busch Beethoven discography – there are a number of works
that have not been collated in one box for various reasons –
then I would recommend this three-disc set, unless you want
to be selective and dip into the Duttons.
Jonathan Woolf
see also Review
by Michael Cookson
Busch String
Quartet 
