Search - Haydn, Beethoven, Quartetto Italiano :: String Quartets (Hybr)

The Reincarnation in SACD of Three Classic Performances

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 02/27/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How wonderful it was to see that Pentatone was going to reissue this classic set of performances from the 1970s by the marvelous Quartetto Italiano. They were recorded at a time when Philips was issuing many recordings in both straight stereo and the then-new Quadraphonic process, a four-channel-on-vinyl playback set-up that never caught on. Philips held on to the original tapes and now some of them are being reissued as hybrid SACDs. Actually the contents of this particular CD comprises the contents from 1 1/2 LPs from those golden days because in addition to the two Haydn quartets (Opp. 76, No. 3 'Emperor', and No. 4 'Sunrise') it includes the Beethoven Op. 18, No. 5 (my personal favorite from that set of six early Beethoven quartets). And all three of these performances sound as if they were recorded yesterday. They have full, lifelike sound that is actually pretty amazing. And the full-blooded but subtle performances quite easily match the wonderful sound. Anyone who knows the work of the now-disbanded Quartetto Italiano knows that in their heyday they were among the top two or three quartets playing. I had the distinct pleasure of hearing them play two of the Beethoven 'Rasumovsky' Quartets in live performances perhaps thirty-five years ago and that remains one of my most treasured concert-going experiences.



You simply will not go wrong if you get this CD. It sounds marvelous either in plain stereo or SACD.



Scott Morrison"