Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Quatuor Mosaiques :: Beethoven: String Quartets Opus 18 Nos. 2 & 3

Finally, the Completion of the Quatuor Mosaïques' Op. 18 Set

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 05/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This review won't take long. I've already written reviews of the Quatuor Mosaïques' two earlier releases of the Op. 18 set -- you can go to those reviews by clicking on these links: Beethoven: String Quartets Opus 18 Nos 1 & 4 /Quatuor Mosaiques & Beethoven: String Quartets Opus 18 Nos. 5 & 6 -- and I raved, nay exulted, about them. Same here. I believe these have become my favorite recordings of these delicious Opus 18 quartets. There is something about the sound of the Quatuor Mosaïques that speaks to me like none other. Their sound almost makes that of modern instrument recordings sound wrong. (See my earlier reviews where I try to explain what I mean by this.) This may be an idiosyncratic response on my part, but there you are.



I assume that Naïve may ultimately issue these three CDs in a box set but I've heard of no such plans. Meanwhile, I hope that Quatuor Mosaïques continues with Beethoven, at least as far as the Op. 59 quartets. Perhaps their sound wouldn't be so appropriate for the quartets that come after that but I'd love to hear them in the Rasumovsky set.



A most urgent recommendation.



Scott Morrison"

Great again!

DKDC | Washington, DC USA | 05/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I loved the other two discs and now the last installment of Opus 18.



I have the Takacs sets of all Beethoven's string Quartets. I don't know if the Mosaiques' discs are actually better than the Takacs' Opus 18. But I like this recording better. Both are highly recommended"