This is out of topic, but I couldn't resist, apologies! I was able to listen to an AR XA model recently at a friend's who is a collector of vintage turntables and I was really impressed with how nice it sounded! Back to music, sorry.....
Yes, I agree that Mozart needs some excitement and liveliness. To me, this is where the Italiano falls short. I would add youthful, charming, playful and lightness to your two adjectives required for Mozart. I am nearing Princeton Record Exchange now. Got out of work early and came into some extra money and there's no other place I'd rather spend it. Hoping to find some Mozart string quartet recordings and many other goodies!
I assume you are referring to the Hagen Quartett's first recording of Mozart's "Haydn" Quartets. Have you heard their second recording?
Those AR model used to be popular until the mid 70's. I prefer my turntables to be German-made, just as I never drive American-made car except while on vacation. Back to music ... The following box arrived from across the pond yesterday ...
I have a few single hagen quartett CD's. It appears the reviews for their recordings on Amazon are a bit uneven ...
I have about 10 of those BBC Music specials. Not sure if any of them really grabbed much of my attention but you got a good one here ...
According to the one review on Amazon, 76 and 77 were not part of the AAM Decca Haydn releases back in the 90s when Hogwood recorded up to 79, so this disc could complete or add to that group of recordings.
I thought that this is part of the box set, a picture of which I posted in my previous post, no? That is the one that I have, although not in front of me right now.
I was happy to welcome this iconic LP to my collection today. I can see why it is so referred--the playing and interpretation are magnificent. It may lack some of the drama of Karajan or Thielemann, but it has its own rewards. The sound is good, but not as thunderous or detailed as Thielemann's SACD version.
As far as I know the box set you posted has the earlier recording from 1990 (please correct if I'm wrong), their second recording was made in 2000.
I only have this 3 disc set that I like a lot. Edit: I just remembered I have a not so good version that was a $.99 download from Amazon.
I have that as a full-price 3 CD set (and without K. 563). I also have the Fine Arts Quartet on SACD. That was pretty much the first Mozart chamber music I could find on SACD.
I picked up the Talich complete set of Mozart SQ, the Guarneri incomplete set, the Mravinsky Erato set, the Bruno Walter mono LvB set on United Archives, the Florestan LvB trios, the Rostropovitch Shostakovitch symphony set, the Katchen Brahms set, the Poulenc Melodies set on Decca, a 2 CD set by Richter of Rach and Tchaik solo, a Jesus Sanroma on Pearl and a 3CD set of live Arrau on M+A!
Joseph Haydn – Symphony No.98 "Surprise", No.100 "Military", No.104 "London" — Philharmonia Hungarica – Antel Dorati (Decca Records)
True, but it sure helps to construct the impressions of warmth. -- But what actually is the "warmth" in music? It's a metaphorical expression, therefore it's also something everyone can understand in his own way. Vibrato on the other hand is a technical term: either it's in use, or it isn't. If it's used, it'll be easy to come to an agreement whether it's used a lot or just modestly.
