As a total classical music addict I'm a bit sad to admit that these days I get more artistic stimulation from recordings than attending live performances. This is caused by a variety of reasons. I've become more fussy about the artists and works I want to hear and have long given up going to concerts out of a sense of duty. Also most current concerts are formatted to appease audiences in order to maximise bums on seats. Concerts that challenge, stimulate and extend audience's imagination are very rare. This stimulation is more often these days found through recordings, including dvds, where you can travel the world through the internet from your own armchair. I've always exchanged experiences from listening to recordings to concert hall ones and vice versa.

The Hagen Quartet

Recently I rediscovered late Beethoven string quartets. My renewed interest in these works performed by modern string quartets was engendered by catching on Radio New Zealand Concert, on the way home from a work concert, a snatch of the Hagen Quartet playing late-Beethoven in what seemed an extraordinary manner. (Radio NZ Concert seems almost more important in allowing these random hearings because the listings often seem so dull and formatted when read in advance.) I also have not kept up with recent performances of these works on record, because they often seem very standardised, and in concert with Chamber Music NZ, for the same reasons!

What struck me about the Hagen Quartet was that their virtuosity meant that Beethoven's music was presented with an almost machine-like clarity without being harsh or self-congratulatory - rather like the x-ray views that Glenn Gould's style brought to the music he played. The Hagens' performances do make you wonder what Beethoven really intended, which is, I guess, preferable to wondering what the Hagens' felt about the music. As a result I checked Amazon reviews (before I read Gramophone's) which also suggested I should try those of the Takacs Quartet.

The Takacs Quartet have recorded all of Beethoven's string quartets (in bite-sized volumes). Their approach has all of the precision of the Hagens' but their emotional climate is somewhat warmer and thus the picture they present of Beethoven is less 'abstract'. Frankly I like both approaches. The recording quality of the Takacs is superb, with great clarity of parts and yet having just the right amount of ambience. There is a current fashion of recording quartets with too much ambience.

Comparing both the Hagen and Takacs with earlier groups such as Busch and Amadeus reveals that the modern groups are less dominated by the first violinist and have a firmer cello line, a preferable trend, in my opinion.

The Hagen Quartet has not recorded all the Beethoven quartets and already several of their recordings have been deleted from the catalogue although only a few years old - such is the current behaviour of the dinosaur major record companies. However you can often get second hand cds from Amazon.

For those who don't know the Beethoven quartets here is a brief summary. His first published set, Op 18 is a set of 6 quartets and date from the first period of his virtuosity, before he became deaf, and are clearly an extension of the Haydn model, although have fabulous heart-stopping adagios - also a feature of early Beethoven. Op 59 is a set of 3 quartets dating from the period which produced the 5th Symphony. Compared with Op 18 the writing is more fluid, less aligned to the Haydn model, and have a greater emotional intensity. These are followed by two separate quartets Op 74 and 95, which are seen as transitional to his "late" quartets. The late quartets op 127-133 (6) were completed after he was said to have abandoned the piano sonatas for this form. They are both more abstract than their predecessors and make little concessions to audiences but offer transcendental experiences, have a grandeur of intensity and structure.

The other good news is that the Takacs Quartet will be touring New Zealand next year.

My own musical background is that I learned the violin in my teens, never managing to become a professional player, but later joined St Matthews Chamber Orchestra where I discovered I was quite good at organising its concerts which lead to working for the Auckland Philharmonia for ten years and currently as concerts secretary at the University of Auckland's School of Music. Other independent projects have included being the artistic manager for The Edge's Purely Piano series.

If you would like to comment or feedback on this article, please contact Russell Finnemore on r.finnemore@timatanga.net.nz He is also able to retail classical cds mentioned above.