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	Prima Edizione LP		Vedere le originarie pubblicazioni in Long Playing.
	Edizione CD		PentaTone (RQR Series) | PTC 5186 175 | 1 CD - 67' 49" | (c) 2008 | ADD PentaTone (RQR Series) | PTC 5186 176 | 1 CD - 70' 27" | (c) 2009 | ADD PentaTone (RQR Series) | PTC 5186 189 | 1 CD - 79' 26" | (c) 2010 | ADD PentaTone (Remastered Series) | PTC 5186 232 | 1 CD - 64' 40" | (c) 2016 | DDD
	Note		Compilation.

RQR Series In the early 1970’s, Philips Classics was already highly aware of the advantages offered by multi-channel music reproduction compared to the stereo techniques in use at the time. The quadraphonic tapes (4-channels recordings) from that period are a classic example of a recording technique way ahead of its time. The advantages of a multi-channel recording and reproduction system are self-evident: the sound is much more natural, the resolution is better and the spatial impression is much more convincing than stereo. As can be expected of a company such as Philips Classics, much attention was paid not only to the artistic side, but also to the technical side of the recordings. During a number of years, the recording department tried out various microphone set-ups, which would be able to make optimal use of the potential advantages of the so-called quadraphonic system. Although amazing results were achieved on the recording side, it turned out to be almost impossible to reproduce the major increase in quality on the gramophone record of the time in combination with the sound systems used by consumers in their homes. Both due to this and to the fact that there were too many competitive systems battling for the favour of the public at large, the quadraphonic recording never managed to become a successful new system for the reproduction of music at that time. Now - over a quarter of a century later - thanks to the arrival of the multi-channel Super Audio CD (SA-CD), there is finally a system available which permits us to release these recordings in their original form. PentaTone Music will be issuing these exceptionally good multi-channel recordings - never before released in this form - in a special series. This so-called RQR (Remastered Quadro Recordings) series will enable the consumer for the first time in the history of recording to listen to these beautiful recordings via a multi-channel reproduction system. During the re-recording and mastering procedure of these multichannel tapes, of which most had not been out of their boxes for the past 30 years, the technicians involved were continually amazed at the exceptionally high technical quality of the recordings. Naturally, during the mastering procedure the greatest possible care was taken while converting the original tapes to the digital DSD (Direct Stream Digital) system used for SA-CD, in order to ensure that none of the original quality was lost. For instance, the original testing and tuning tapes were used to precisely tune the analogue reproduction machines; furthermore, the analogue machines were directly connected to the best DSD Analogue/Digital converters, without the intervention of any mixing consoles and/or other special equipment to influence the sound. Contact was also made with the original technicians in order to get hold of as much existing knowledge as possible. In the digital domain, no artificial echo has been added, in order to maintain the quality of the original tapes as much as possible. Although the new SA-CD standard allows for 5 fully fledged channels, plus a subwoofer channel, a conscious choice was made to release these early recordings in their original 4-channel version in this RQR series: the idea behind this being to do justice to the original intentions of both artists and recording technicians. Jean Marie Geijsen (Polyhymnia International) REMASTERED CLASSICS Philips Classics Philips Classics began making multi-channel recordings back in the 1970s, at a time when most companies were still only recording in two-channel stereo. The concept of surround sound was as yet unheard of, let alone the possibility that this might some day be reproduced at home in the living room. Now, thanks to the advent of the Super Audio CD – a CD with two layers, the first of which includes the traditional CD signal, and the second the signal for surround sound – there is finally a medium that makes it possible for these magnificent recordings to reach the public with all their original possibilities and quality intact. In remastering these multi-channel tapes – most of which had been sitting in their boxes for at least 30 years – our sound engineers had at their disposal the original testing and tuning tapes, and were therefore able to replicate the original process used with the analogue machines. The analogue machines were directly connected to state-of-the-art DSD analogue to digital converters, strictly bypassing any mixing consoles and/or other special equipment which might influence the sound, and transferring the information in its original multi-channel glory to the Super Audio CD. PENTATONE is now presenting the original Philips Classics’ recordings in the REMASTERED CLASSICS series on Super Audio CD, thereby finally permitting these gems to be heard as they were originally intended. Just as the birds intensify and refine the beauty of nature with their song – at times soothing, at others forceful, or amusing, yet on the whole extremely attractive – the perfect mixture of classical works and the superior quality of the REMASTERED CLASSICS series, based on the original Philips Classics’ recordings, are sure to intensify and refine your own musical journey. -------------------- Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 59 No. 1 "Rasumovsky" and Op. 18 No. 6 (Pentatone PTC 5186 175) Beethoven had a serious problem. In the prestigious genre of the string quartet, Mozart an Haydn - the two other great representatives of the Viennese Classical era - had been producing their milestone works up until around 1800. Haydn's magnificent Gp. 76 had been completed and Mozart’s 10 “great” quartets were still hanging in the air. How was Beethoven going to not only face up against this heritage, but also go one step further? As he had already done with the symphony, he again made various careful compositional detours in the string quartet genre, and felt his way carefully through related genres, such as the string trio and string quintet, on his way to the apogee of chamber music, to which he contributed a first highlight with his Op.18. The string quartet as such distinguished itself from the “quatuor brillant" mainly in the now evenly matched and independent treatment of parts, which had until then remained subordinated to the virtuosity of the first violin. Beethoven’s personal idea and understanding of the genre is probably best reflected in the following quote from Goethe (dating from 1829): "...one hears four sensible people conversing, and believes that one might stand to gain something from their discourse." This demonstrates in a marvellous manner, that Beethoven’s first contributions to the genre had promoted the string quartet from the category of primarily music for entertainment: it was now developing further in the direction of autonomous chamber music, in other words, absolute music: music for music's sake. It was not by chance that the first “professional” ensembles were also founded during this phase of the quartet's “life”. After all, the randomly gathered amateur quartets soon discovered they were technically out of their depth when faced with the new compositions. Experts were now needed. Beethoven wrote the six quartets Op. 18 between 1798 and 1800, and dedicated them to Prince Franz Joseph Lobkowitz. Thus, he remained faithful to the Baroque tradition of compiling six distinctive works in a cycle. The order in which he wrote the works actually differs to that in which they were published: i.e. Nos. 3, 1, 2, 5, 4, 6. His Op. 18 proved Beethoven to be a representative of the Viennese Classical era equal to Haydn and Mozart. Here, he gave the Classical style new impulses, as far as form and intensity of expression were concerned. The String Quartet Op. 18, No. 6 is in B flat and is completely geared towards the final movement as the artistic climax. In the first theme of the first movement, Beethoven exposes two motif nuclei: a turn and an upwards rocketing triad. The main theme dominates the entire course of the movement, which introduces the dialogue principle with consummate ease - to be precise, in the framework of a severe, almost conventionally progressing sonata movement. Motifs abound here. The three-part Adagio marches ahead in 2/4 time. Here again, the turn emerges to develop a function. The instruments hold musical dialogues with one another. The middle section in E-flat minor soon brightens into the major key, and returns in the repetition of the main segment. The Scherzo is full of distinctive rhythmic effects (6/8 or 3/4 time?), such as accents and syncopation and leaves the listener with a deceptive sense of security The Trio is reserved for the solo of the first violin. In the Finale, the Adagio (which is also represented here) also pops up repeatedly, with the extra-musical heading La Malinconia (= melancholy). Did Beethoven intend this heading to cover the entire movement, or just the slow, dark, halting segments of the Adagio? Even today, this question remains unanswered. A wild Prestissimo concludes the work. But is the jovial atmosphere here not rather forced and artifcial? In his three String Quartets Op. 59, composed between 1804-1806 and dedicated to his patron Count Rasumovsky, Beethoven raised his standards to yet more radical heights, with regard to both temporal expansion and internal structure. Here he confirmed his "reformulation of the genre", as the expert on string quartets, Friedhelm Krummacher, formulated in a scholarly manner. Such a radical approach was too much for his contemporaries, who labelled Op. 59 as "crazy music", "a botched-up job by a madman", and “not universally comprehensible". Likewise, the three quartets Op. 59 are grouped in a cycle. The first public performance was given by the Schuppanzigh Quartet, as only a professional ensemble was capable of fulfilling the enormously increased technical and associated intellectual demands. For example, the Quartet No. 1 in F is representative of Beethoven’s new musical idiom: expanded form, with extremely intensified theme-work, both artificial and autonomous in its inner structure. Here, Beethoven conveys on the string quartet a symphonic character, perhaps even orchestral dimensions. From a structural point of view, the first movement of Op. 59, No. 1 is a sonata movement of no less than 400 bars! An abundance of themes and motifs unfolds, the first theme consists of l9 bars, beginning in the cello and continuing in the violin. Further (partly contrasting) thematic constructions follow on - in anticipation of the Romantic era, one might almost speak of groups of themes. Parallel to this, the detailed motivic Work - still so important a factor in his Op. 18 - is relegated to a back seat. The development is the central section and climaxes in a dense fugato. The second movement is a scherzo masquerading as a sonata movement, with a highly imaginative musical idiom. The expansive Adagio hugely extends the sphere of expression (F minor), it consists of inscrutable mourning music full of ornamentation and sighing figures; the themes are gathered into groups. The Finale falls back on a “thème russe”, which is presented by the cello. Thus, in a merry, extroverted and, simultaneously, playful manner, Beethoven honours his Russian patron with this Russian melody. Franz Steiger Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 59 No. 2 "Rasumovsky" and Op. 59 No. 3 "Rasumovsky" (Pentatone PTC 5186 176) Ludwig van Beethoven composed his string quartets in the decades between 1798 and 1826, and, in his contributions to the genre, delineated to a high degree a stylistic spectrum ranging from the classical order of Haydn in his Op. 18, almost attaining the effect of “new music” (= music of the early 20th century) in his late works. With his three String Quartets Op. 59, composed between 1804-1806 and dedicated to his patron Count Rasumovsky, Beethoven broke new ground by expanding the form and the internal structuring. Just five years after writing his first String Quartets, Op. 18, he had developed yet further radical demands on the art form. In these later quartets, he confirmed his "Reformulierung der Gattung" (= reformulation of the genre), as expressed by the expert on string quartets, Friedhelm Krummacher, in terms typical of a musicologist. The radical nature of this music was just too overwhelming for his contemporaries, and Op. 59 was subsequently deemed "insane music", "a botched-up job by a madman", and "generally incomprehensible". As with his Op. 18, Beethoven’s three String Quartets, Op. 59 were collated as a cycle. The first public performance was given by the Schuppanzigh Quartet. Although this remark may seem trivial, it is essential as far as the categorization of the works is concerned: only a professional ensemble would have been capable of handling the huge increase in the technical and corresponding intellectual demands of the works. Besides, Beethoven was writing with a new audience in mind: no longer would the music be confined within the aristocratic salon, but performed before a receptive and open-minded public audience. The "absolutely new style" presented by Beethoven in his variation cycles Op. 54 and Op. 35 - that new structuring of Beethoven’s compositions, which is considered in close context with the Heiligenstadt Testament within the Beethoven literature - is also continued and further expanded in Op. 59. For the first time, symphonic ideas begin to influence the string quartet genre. The expansion of the individual movements as well as that of the entire work also begins to take on truly symphonic proportions. The classical structuring of the themes is replaced by long-winded melodies, the classical treatment of the themes is replaced by an elaborate and varied development. Thanks to the upgrading of the cello, the sound spectrum of the quartet is massively expanded in the lower bass regions. The Quartet No. 1 in F major (also released by Pentatone together with Op. 18/6) is a model example of Beethoven's new musical idiom, which presented structural expansion, an extreme intensification of the themes, and was both elaborate and autonomous in its inner structure. The E-minor Quartet provides a strong contrast to this in well-nigh all aspects: it is a good deal shorter than its predecessor and less structurally ambiguous, it possesses a different level of expression, and is more strongly directed towards a sense of unity between the movements than towards a clearly individual approach. In this respect, Arnold Werner-]ensen pointed out that the "cyclical idea of the three wwks of Op. 59 [..]” is also based “on the grouping of thesis - antithesis - synthesis". For the melodies and sound-language of this work in E minor may definitely be described as radical - however, radical as compared to the C-major quartet. This final work is the shortest and, in its essence, perhaps the most concentrated quartet in the cycle. For the first time, Beethoven returns here to the slow introduction of the symphony - however, the result is less a continuation than a true break with tradition. Thanks to its position within the cycle, the Finale of Op. 59/3 has a dual function - of which Beethoven takes full advantage, by designing the- streaming energy inherent to the movement as perpetuum mobile and by excessively increasing the counterpoint. The sonata movement is just bursting at the seams with various fugal elements, and finally concludes both the string quartet and the cycle in a heroic manner by means of a stretta. Franz Steiger Haydn: String Quartet Op. 76 No. 3 (Hob. III:77) "Emperor" & String Quartet Op. 76 No. 4 (Hob. III:78) "Sunrise" Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 18 No. 5 (Pentatone PTC 5186 189) The myth of “Papa” Haydn was one of the most persistent clichés in the history of music, obscuring a clear view until the middle of the 20th century of one of the most versatile composers ever. Haydn had been firmly stamped as old-fashioned, boring and conservative. It took pioneering efforts in the field of musicology and new interpretative approaches to put paid to that cliché once and for all. And yet, in one respect, Haydn really was a ‘Papa”, and a careful and caring one at that: when it comes to the form of the string quartet, of whom Haydn is undoubtedly the artistic father. In his epoch-making “Geschichte des Streichquartetts” (History of the String Quartet) published in 2005, Friedhelm Krummacher describes the contribution Haydn’s early experiments made to the foundation of the genre, as well as the difficulties he encountered in doing so. The chapter entitled "Arbeit am Modell” (Working on the model) covers Op. 9 to Op. 53, while Haydn’s mature quartets stretch from Op. 42 to 103. Under the title "Norm und Individuation", Krummacher explains with conviction how Haydn not only created the basis for the genre but also how he kept on working at stretching the limits of the genre’s compositional possibilities. Haydn’s quartets Op. 76, also known as the “Erdödy Quartets”, were succeeded only by the two "Lobkowitz Quartets", and the last, incomplete quartet, consisting of two movements. Op. 76 was thus the last instrumental cycle in Haydn`s oeuvre. At the end of his exceptionally creative life, the composer returned to the genre that had fascinated him since early in his career. Op. 76 came about largely in the years 1796/ 97. Only the two last quartets appear to have been created later. The quartet in C major owes its nickname “Kaiserquartett” (“Emperor quartet”) to the famous variations on the hymn entitled “Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser” (God save Franz the Emperor), which later became the melody of the German National anthem. The first movement follows the sonata form, with the underlying fifth as harmonic cadence. In the slow movement, “Gott erhalte” is used as a cantus firmus, commented on by the counter-voices. The finale, too, is a sonata movement, commencing in C minor. The movement builds up to a monumental effect before the main theme finally carries through in the coda. A contrasting effect unfolds in the B major quartet. In this opening movement, the static predominates over the dynamic, with an exceptional spatiality of sound. Now the theme is reduced to the extreme, now it fills up again. An interaction thus comes about between congestion and hastening along. The slow movement is almost hymnal, a balance reigns between harmonic and playful figurative intonations. In the finale, Haydn combines formal elements of sonata movement and rondo, with the main motif and refrain closely interwoven. After Haydn’s magnificent Op. 76 and Mozart’s ten “great” quartets, Beethoven now had a serious problem regarding the representative genre of the string quartet: he was confronted with milestones. How was he going to not only come into this inheritance but also surmount it? As he had already done in the field of the symphony; Beethoven took compositional detours with the string quartet, carefully exploring related genres such as string trios and quintets before reaching the crowning glory of chamber music, which he first raised to a new plane with his Opus 18. The six quartets Op. 18, which Beethoven had devoted to prince Franz Josef Lobkowitz, were composed between 1798 and 1800. Beethoven thus stayed true to the baroque tradition of six works of a different nature combined in a single work cycle. The order in which they came about, incidentally was different from the order of publication, namely No. 3, 1, 2, 5, 4, 6. With Op. 18, Beethoven proved himself a representative of Viennese Classical Music on a par with Haydn und Mozart, giving the already highly developed classical style new impetus regarding form and intensity of expression. Quartet No. 5 in A major unfolds as a unified whole ~ formal, thematic, rhythmic and metrical. As in Mozart’s quartet KV 464 of the same tonality, which served Beethoven as a model here, the minuet again takes second place and the variation movement third in the grand formal structure. In the first movement, we encounter a dance-like main theme arising from a gradually expanding scale over the cello’s triadic arpeggiations and a homophonic side movement in E-minor; a classic example of the “two principles” which Beethoven wanted to see in every sonata movement. The minuet only suggested a dance movement. In the variation movement, a theme awaits with two times eight bars, which Beethoven, in five variations geared to the solo effects of the separate instruments, not only plays with and imitates but also reworks to a considerable degree. The fourth and fifth variations in particular show - with a harmonious, choral-like handling or burlesque sound design - exceptional qualities which exceed Mozart’s example by far. As with Mozart, the finale is written alla breve with a three-tone upbeat motif as thematic point of departure, contrasted with the chorale-like second theme, which, however, only seemingly and temporarily brings quietude before the figurative element prevails again. Franz Steiger Schubert: String Quartets D. 87 and D. 804 (Pentatone PTC 5186 232) "What was it like to write a symphony or a string quartet in the city of Mozart and Haydn?" An ambiguous question posed by critic and musicologist Joseph Kerman in his excellent book The Beethoven Quartets. Admittedly, Kerman is referring to the Herculean task encountered by Lydwig van Beethoven, thanks to these luminaries, after moving to Vienna from Bonn in 1792. However, it is not at all unreasonable to raise this question once again, although now with reference to Schubert: for less than three decades on, Beethoven himself was now the undisputed number 1 in the Danubian metropolis, a composer considered an insitution, against whom not only a musician himself. Schubert's extremely pronounced self-criticism - in particular with regard to works intended for publication - can also be explained by this difficult sotuation. Thus, an unusually high number of those comositions were left unfinished. Schubert lived his short life based in Vienna, without any major adventures, or extensive travel abroad, or spectacular highlights. But appearances say little about a person. And posterity primarily comes into contact with the many facets of the person who was Schubert through his musical oeuvre, which presents a wide range of expression: including the lighthearted, yet nevertheless sophisticated conversational emotional outbursts - and all the varieties in between. This also goes for his 20 string quartets. Fourteen of these were completed and one was left incomplete; of a firther three string quartets, only fragments remain,  and two are presumed to be lost to posterity. Furthermore, Schubert wrote two quartet-overtures, as well as Fünf Menuette und Fünf Deutsche (= five minuets and five German dances) for the string-quartet genre. An amazingly extensive body of work, considering that Schubert died when aged only 31. His quartets can be relatively easily divided into an early, miffle and late period, in which the numerous early works dating from 1810 to 1813 are characterized mainly by his experiments with specific compositional techniques, such as imitation and canon. Schubert was looking for new paths to journey, writing mainly for the family string quartet in which he played the viola. In his middle period, he verges more towards the classical models of Haydn and Mozart, especially in the structure of the works (this is the period in which he also wrote his D. 87, in November 1813). Between 1816 and 1823, Schubert took a break from the string quartet genre (with the exception of his Quartettsatz c-moll [= quartet movement in C minor], which marked the "boundary between early and late works, " to quote Krummenacher) and took on the compositional challenge of, especially, the piano sonata, focussing mainly on the complicated construction and design of the final movements. During the period of 1818-1823, also referred to as his "years of crisis," there was an increase in the number of works that were to remain fragmentary. Not until 1824 was he able to cut the Gordian knot of the quartets. He seemed to be working in a frenzy. In his well-known letter to Leopold Kupelwieser dated March 31,1824, following the completion of D. 804 and D. 810, Schubert wrote: "... for I have composed 2 quartets for violins, viola and cello; and an octet; and I want to write another quartet; this is absolutely how I plan to move forward towards writing an extensive symphony." When talking about Schubert's string quartets nowadays, one is usually referring to the late three works, D. 804, D. 810, and D. 887. Faced with the masterful quality of these mature quartets, the numerically far superior string quartets from his early and middle periods were inevitably forced to bow down. With the consequence that the inner relationship between the different creative periods passed unnoticed. However, there are definitely "subcutaneous" connections between his early and late works. As Friedhelm Krummacherin formulated in an impressively conclusive manner in his three-volume opus magnum Geschichte des Streichquartetts (= history of the string quartet): "... the late works initially give the impression that they have been removed from the historical context by a construction that seems to get along quite well without Beethoven, as the primacy of the motivic work takes second place to the structures of the soundscaping." And indeed, here one has to search for any rigorous polyphony with o magnifying glass, as one is far more likely to bump into variation techniques: the above-mentioned soundscaping is more ideally typical of a movement for orchestral rather than chamber music. To quote Krummenacher once again, one discovers a certain "structural affinity" between the early and middle (i.e., the experimental) works and the late works (in other words, the "perfected" examples). For such masterpieces do not appear from out of the blue. At least, not in Schubert's case. The Quartet in E flat major D. 87 is right on the border between the Classical and the Romantic period. This delicate positioning can be sensed in the Haydn-like playfulness in the outer movements and the Scherzo, as well as in the almost Mozartian mood of the tender Adagio. For the first time, Schubert breaks away from the monothematic approach and the structural experiments of his first quartets. One is almost surprised at the normality reigning here. The structuring and the elaboration are characterized by a kind of reluctance, which one - to put it negatively - could also describe as a refusal to innovate. But right in the finale, the quartet in E-flat major displays that special mixture of esprit so typical of chamber music. Not the worst thing for a lo-year-old to lay claim to! The String Quartet in A minor, D. 804, bears the epithet Rosamunde. In the slow movement, Schubert quotes the theme of the first interlude from his incidental music to Rosamunde, and the song Schöne Welt, wo bist Du? (= beautiful world, where are you?) at the beginning of the minuet. For the first time, he introduces a "semantic moment" (Reiser), or to quote Werner Aderhold, a "textual gravity" into his string quartet oeuvre. These deliberately chosen quotes from his own works are not lacking in influence on the other movements - right up to the design of the motifs and their implementation. The slow movement is the emotional and programmatic climax of the quartet - the quotation from Rosamunde describes the sensation of reflection, of looking back to a happy and carefree childhood. In the quartet, Schubert again surpasses this moment. The entire work is defined by a rather muted tone of gentleness and elegy, of longing and melancholy. Following its première, Moritz von Schwindt wrote the following appropriate words: "It (the quartet) is on the whole very gentle, but in such a way that one retains the melody, as if of a song, all emotion and quite pronounced". Franz Steiger