Donald Satz wrote:

>Ray Bayles writes:
>
>>I am ready to try the Dvorak String Quartets...  Is the Prague set the
>>one to get if you only have none?
>
>I like Ray's humor.  I'm not any expert on Dvorak recordings, but it is
>possible that the Prague is the only "set" available.  I know that the
>Panocha on Supraphon, Stamitz on Bayer, and Kodaly on Naxos have recorded
>most if not all of the Dvorak string quartets.  Perhaps one or more of them
>has been issued as a complete set.

All of the above are fully available, though not as a "boxed set" as it
were.

>Don Vroon of ARG dismisses the early Dvorak string quartets.  Is there any
>way I can get him dismissed?

Alas, he owns the damed magazine.

>But don't bury me with recordings of Mendelssohn,

Owww!  You wound me Don.  Have you ever listened to any of Mendelssohn's a
cappella choral music? Since my cry for discussions about choral music has
faded without many long threads, let me suggest to you the following:

If you can find it, grab ahold of Frieder Bernius' Carus (83.203) cd of
sacred works.  This is singing of the first order in settings that are so
perfectly idomatic for voices that you would wonder how anyone could dare
set these texts in any other way.  The Kammerchor Stuttgart is IMHO the
finest choir on the planet and Bernius captures the spirit, joy and
contemplative nature of these works perfectly.

If you cannot find that cd (and they are sometimes hard to locate) I also
recommend the recent release on Harmonia Mundi by the RIAS Kammerchor, also
of Stuttgart.  Excellent singing, with one caveat, the conductor (whose
name escapes me, sorry) totally misses the boat with his choice of tempi in
the "Ehre sei Gott" movement of the Missa brevis.  It's half the tempo the
composer requests and frankly, it drives me nuts when I hear it, despite
the fact that it is beautifully sung.

Kevin Sutton