MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Support us financially by purchasing this from

Joseph SCHUSTER (1748-1812)
String Quartets Nos 1-6 (1780)
Quartetto Joseph Joachim
rec. 2001, Chiesa di San Pietro in Lucone, Polpenazze, Italy
PAN CLASSICS PC10379 [59:30]

Joseph Schuster is a forgotten name these days; Presto lists only one other work currently available. He was born in Dresden, but his important musical influences seem to have come from Italy, having made a number of trips to Padua, where he was introduced to the music of Tartini. The musical powerbroker there was the Marquis Giuseppe Ximenes, who commissioned these works. Schuster’s patron in Dresden, the Elector’s daughter Maria Antonia, also had a Paduan connection, with her musical advisor being Giovanni Ferrandini, who spent much time in the Italian city.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of these undoubtedly fine quartets is their connection to Mozart. In 1923, the French scholar Georges de Saint-Foix attributed four of the quartets to Mozart, and until 1964, they were given the catalogue numbers K.Anh. 210-13. The connection between Schuster and Mozart goes even further: Wolfgang complimented Schuster’s music in a letter to Nannerl, and also visited Padua at a similar time to Schuster. However, I think it is more significant in the context of this recording that the works could have been thought to have been composed by Mozart. While few would say that the string quartet is his best genre, this is still Mozart after all. If musicologists were tricked, then it says something about the musical qualities of Schuster’s compositions.

My normal practice when auditioning a new recording is to play it in the background while doing something else. If my attention is drawn to the music, that is usually a good sign, and that happened here. Schuster’s talent for a diverting phrase and interesting conversation between the instruments kept grabbing me. Melody may not have been his strong point, but the rhythms and harmonies are quite original. These are not flashy or frilly works, as is often the case in this era; in fact, they are quite restrained, I might even be tempted to say austere. Of the seventeen movements – Quartet 4 has two, the rest three – only one has a tempo marking faster than allegro, and the first quartet has no allegro at all.

The recording is not new; it was originally released on the Symphonia label in 2001. The performers use period instruments, but for those “allergic” to this, let me assure you that the sound produced, while quite lean, seems very appropriate for this restrained music. With no point of comparison, my only comment on the performances is that they seem to be in accord with Schuster’s intentions. The microphones have picked up quite a lot of breathing, which is not ideal. The booklet notes are quite awkwardly written (or translated) in unidiomatic English. They are very detailed in their tracing of the Mozart connection to Schuster and these works, but the odd phrasing and excessive wordiness make them difficult to follow.

David Barker

 



Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing