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| BIS/Conifer (Full price) (CD) CD431/2 (two discs, oas: 71 and 71 minutes: DDD). |
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| CD431—C major, K515; D major, K593. CD432—G minor, K516; E flat major, K614. |
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| K515—selected comparisons: |
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| Melos Qt, Beyer (11/87) 419 773-2GH |
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| Guarneri Qt, Kavafian (2/89) RD87772 |
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| K593—selected comparison: |
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| Guarneri Qt, Tenenbom (9/88) RD87771 |
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| K516—selected comparisons: |
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| Melos Qt, Beyer (11/87) 419 773-2GH |
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| Guarneri Qt, Tenenbom (9/88) RD87770 |
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| K614—selected comparison: |
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| Guarneri Qt, Kashkashian (2/89) RD87772 |
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Volumes 1 and 2 of this BIS Mozart series contain all Mozart's great original music for string quintet: there remain K406 (a reworking of the C minor Wind Serenade K388) and the intermittently interesting K174. The Grumiaux ensemble version of the magnificent G minor Quintet (Philips 416 486-2PH3, 7/86—a three-disc set) remains, I think, unchallenged, despite the present team's penetration in the Adagio. I can't praise their handling of the movement too much: even the silences tell (are there any more potent rests in chamber music than those in bars 9 and 10?) and the feeling of dramatic shape is powerful—the minute (and I do mean minute) increase in tempo for the B flat minor second subject is an inspiration, as are Nobuko Imai's almost vocal quaver interjections at the beginning of this passage.
In the other movements, however, I'm less convinced. The opening Allegro has a strenuous, even heavy quality after the Grumiaux, who show that tragedy and the dance are more than compatible: the slower tempo adopted here doesn't help, nor do the over-emphatic accents in the second group (Mozart only writes mfp). The glowing viola thirds in the Trio are admirable, but the main body of the Minuet again sounds over-weight. A similar pattern can be found in K614: heavy, occasionally over-emphatic outer movements and a much more convincing slow movement. Hans Keller dismissed K614's 'hunt' first movement and finale as "a stylistic mystery and a textual failure", of the versions listed here, only the Grumiaux has put up any kind of case against that judgement.
Volume 1, however, is another matter. The earnest approach in the opening Allegro of K515 seems more successful, and the performance has impressive forward drive. Likewise the Allegro first movement of K593, though here I again miss something of that dancing, almost airborne quality that Grumiaux and his team bring out. As in Volume 2, the slow movements come off very well indeed (K515's Andante is placed second in this recording): the almost unbearably beautiful leadback in the Adagio of K593 had me reaching for the replay button more than once, and again there's that fine sense of dramatic form—a characteristic of each performance, however one may react to the prevailing tone.
So, although it's only in K515 that the Orlando/Imai ensemble really challenge the Philips performance, they're generally preferable to the emotively-inCined Guarneri (RCA) or the somewhat lustreless Melos (DG), and they're much more generous with repeats (including all the marked development-recapitulation repeats) than the Grumiaux. I concede there may be listeners who find the Grumiaux G minor a little light on its feet, and no doubt they'll find the Orlando's more obviously fraught manner more congenial, but for me the Grumiaux are subtler and ultimately more convincing. Remember Shakespeare—"This heart dances, but not for joy".
SJ