Ron Chaplin, writing about the Schubert and Mozart quartets:

>Anyone have any opinions on the quartets? Also, can anyone recommend any
>other recordings that I can compare with the ones I have?
>
>It seems to me that Schubert put much more into his quartet than Mozart,
>which seem facile, almost knock-offs compared to the Schubert.

According to Mozart himself, the "Haydn" string quartets were, at the time,
the hardest thing he had ever written.  Unlike Haydn, he was not a natural
string quartet composer (much more attuned to the string quintet), and
although I like the "Haydn" quartets very much, I find them by and large
the least convincing of all his major works.  They have many beautiful
melodies and memorable passages, but they contain more awkwardnesses and
uncertain transitions than in most of Mozart's works combined.  I think
the first of them, K.  387, is the best, but otherwise there are no
masterpieces.  He seems much more comfortable in the later "Hoffmeister"
quartet and "Prussian" quartets, but there the musical material is not as
interesting, and again, no masterpieces, with the exception of the slow
movement of the last quartet, K.  590.  For my money, the best available
recordings of the Prussian quartets are by the Alban Berg Quartet, either
on EMI or Teldec.  They also have a two fine recordings of the "Hunt"
quartet.  They tend to be a bit too driven in most of the "Haydn" quartets.
The 1960s Quartetto Italiano performances of the complete quartets are
still available:  they are good mainstream interpretations.  I used to like
the old Amadeus Quartet recordings of the "Haydn" quartets, but I'm not
sure if they're still available, and they don't do the repeats.  The Franz
Schubert quartet has a set on Nimbus, inexpensive, good in the "Haydn"
quartets although a little slack rhythmically, unsatisfying in the
Prussian, with sound maybe a bit too reverberant for some tastes.  The
1950s Budapest recordings of the Prussian and Hoffmeister are excellent, of
the Haydn fairly good, although again, they don't dot he repeats.  I have
not heard the Quatuor Mosaiques on original instruments, but they have
received very good reviews.

>Soooooo, I was wondering if it would be a useful exercise to discuss which
>genre (orchestral, instrumental, chamber, vocal, opera, etc.) a composer
>excelled in.  Which form should I listen to begin to really experience the
>essence of the composers work?

This was mentioned in an earlier thread on Mozart and Haydn.  For Mozart,
opera, the piano concerto, and the string quintet.  For Schubert, the Lied,
the Lied, and the Lied.

Peter Goldstein