In Reply to: 50s Bartok Quartet cycle with the Juilliard Remastered by Pristine: Fantastic posted by jdaniel@jps.net on September 11, 2016 at 14:55:01:
I have been avidly collecting Bartok Quartets on vinyl for the past 2 years. It is by far and away my favorite music. To date, I have about 15 different complete sets on vinyl.
While each set has it's plus and minuses, my top 3 are as follows:
1. Tatrai (Hungaraton original or re-issue on Japanese King)
2. Talich (Supraphon)
3. Vegh (Valois or Telefunken, yes there is a sonic difference between the 2)
The Tatrai and Talich are very raw and earthy in my opinion. They bring life to the music and throw you into the pit of emotion. Whereas the Vegh is a less visceral reading, it does have excellent sonics and the bassist performance is 2nd to none. The Telefunken issue of Vegh is more pristine and aggressive, from a sonic point of view compared to the Vegh.
The Japanese King reissue of Tatrai has excellent sonics and the explosive dynamics allow the listener to be fully engaged at all times. The Hungaraton original is warmer, but less explosive and has more surface noise. The King re-issue is dead quiet.
Talich on Supraphon has very good, not great, sonic value and the surface noise is acceptable. The playing by Talich is very eastern European, to my ears, and has a grittiness that is quite emotional. Raw and textural.
Here are some photos of the LPs. I couldn't find a good King re-issue photo, as it is very rare to find on LP.
If you have any questions about my other LP sets, please let me know. I really enjoy Bartok. I am also a huge Shostakovich quartet fan and collector.
Pat
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- Tatrai, Talich and Vegh - banpuku 05:55:55 09/13/16 (4)
- RE: Tatrai, Talich and Vegh - Utley1 06:29:25 09/24/16 (0)
- I know them well, but please do try the 1st Juilliard cycle. in a class by itself. nt - jdaniel@jps.net 07:53:30 09/13/16 (2)
- RE: I know them well, but please do try the 1st Juilliard cycle. in a class by itself. nt - banpuku 08:11:11 09/13/16 (1)
- RE: I know them well, but please do try the 1st Juilliard cycle. in a class by itself. nt - jdaniel@jps.net 08:24:59 09/13/16 (0)