One More Time, Ludwig!

It turns out that, after having recorded the complete string quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven (early, middle, and late), including the Opus 133 “Grosse Fuge,” the Guarneri Quartet released one other album of that composer’s music. The selection was his Opus 29 quintet in C major, with the second viola part being performed by the rather distinguished guest artist Pinchas Zukerman. Since the repertoire of these quintets is rather limited, RCA (which originally released the vinyl version) coupled this quintet, which was composed in 1801, with Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 87 quintet in B-flat major, composed in 1845, towards the end of his short life.

Opus 29 is not the only quintet that Beethoven composed; but, as the Wikipedia page for this composition puts it, it is his “only full-scale, original composition in the string quintet genre.” That same article also suggests that this composition subsequently inspired both Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms. As a mere listener, however, I can only fall back on the spirit of my favorite past slogan of the Sunday edition of The New York Times: “You don’t have to read it all, but it’s good to know it’s all there!” Because both San Francisco Performances and the San Francisco Symphony provide a generous share of engaging chamber music recitals, I am glad to know that I can be prepared should one of those recitals include the performance of Beethoven’s quintet!

The only index for Guarneri Quartet: The Complete Recordings 1965–2005, found on the bottom of the box set

Mind you, Sony will not make my preparatory efforts particularly easy. The only index to the contents can be found on the bottom of the box set. (Fortunately, the Amazon.com Web page recognized this as useful information and provided an “expanded view” option.) That provides the only information for finding further details about the track listening for each of the 49 CDs in the collection! The Guarneri Quartet disbanded in 2009, leaving behind a rich legacy of their performances; but I find myself more than a little miffed at how little respect Sony showed to that legacy.