Schumann: String Quartets, Op. 41 / Eroica Quartet

Kindly comment; Schumann: String Quartets, Op. 41 / Eroica Quartet (Harmoni

Superb.

Paul Goldstein

Is it as 'superb' as their Beethoven disc with op.74 on?

I don't know that one.

Paul Goldstein

I very much like the sound qua sound they make as captured by the engineers, and heard in isolation the performances seem fine, but if you compare them to some of the more imaginative groups out there, especially the Hagen Qt, Zehetmair Qt and Juilliard (sadly not on commercial CDs, it seems) they can seem less distinctive and rather lacking in characterization (e.g. at the start of the finale of no. 3 the same phrase gets repeated (more-or-less) several times; with the Eroica Qt, but not the others, there repetitions all sound the same in terms of inflection, volume, nuance, etc.).

It seems that SIMON has had the Schumann module extended, which is good news.

I found the Hagen's Schumann disc very disappointing: rigid and unromantic, and as such unSchumannesque. In fact it was so frustrating I'm not sure I managed to listen all the way through.

Can you compare those others you list above with the St.Lawrence disc?

So do you imagine I will think it technically undernourished as I did that disc?

I suspect your reaction will be similar.

That's a bit slower and 'warmer' than the others I mentioned. Zehetmair Qt provide rather more fantasy/dramatic variety than the others I know. (If you think the Hagen are rigid and unromantic, you really ought to hear the Eroica....)

I liked their Beethoven disc and their two Mendelssohns, but was mildly disappointed by the Schumann. It wasn't awful by any means, seemed just a bit staid.