Great American Quartets . . . and Others

America’s senior string quartets, the Juilliard and the Guarneri, both seldom heard from on recordings, are back: the Guarneri Quartet, personnel unchanged since its founding 27 years ago, with a new edition of one of its golden oldies, Grieg’s gorgeous, emotionally uninhibited G-minor Quartet (Philips 426 286); and the Juilliard Quartet, performing Elliott Carter’s four string quartets on a two-CD set for Sony (47229).

Now as in 1967 for RCA, the Guarneri takes the Grieg so much to heart, with playing of such intensity and vivacity as to make passing blemishes not only pardonable but ingratiating: a heated, damn-the-producer performance that projects the feeling of the concert hall rather than the recording studio. (The recording also features Sibelius’ Quartet in D minor.)

Just how virtuosic and dedicated the Guarneri remains can be learned the hard way, by listening to the Grieg in another new recording, this time played by an ensemble loftily named the English String Quartet (Unicorn-Kanchana 9092, with Schumann’s Quartet in A).

Its playing is thin-toned, often alarmingly out of tune and rhythmically sloppy. Like the Guarneri recording, this one hardly seems overly studied. The two are, however, distinct in that the Guarneri not only has the work in its bones but operates at a level of technical proficiency--interpretive judgments aside--beyond the wildest imaginings of the Britishers.

The Juilliard Quartet retains one of its original members, first violinist Robert Mann, who founded the ensemble with William Schuman in 1946. With Mann as leader, the Juilliard has maintained its dedication to enlarging (via commissions) and maintaining (through frequent performance) a native repertory of music for its medium.

Mann and his various colleagues inspired the second and third of Elliott Carter’s four string quartets. But all four--works of boggling complexity and imaginativeness, spanning the years 1951-1986 and intent on spotlighting individual voices rather than four-part homogeneity--become Juilliard property with the Sony set, which also includes the 1974 Duo played by Mann and pianist Christopher Oldfather.

It is uniquely demanding--of performer and listener--stuff that can be fathomed only with concentrated, repeating listening. The sort of music for which recordings might have been invented.

A winning formula has been achieved by today’s Cleveland Quartet with first violinist William Preucil and violist James Dunham joining founding members Peter Salaff, the second violinist, and Paul Katz, its cellist.

The Cleveland’s latest CD pairs works by Dvorak: his last quartet, the lushly melodious work in A-flat, Opus 105, and the familiar Quartet in F, the “American” (Telarc 80283).

The Clevelanders dance, drive and croon their way through Dvorak’s exquisite tunes and bracing rhythms with the verve of the best Czech ensembles of the recent past, and with a degree of technical proficiency increasingly rare among ensembles from the composer’s homeland.

The Chester String Quartet, in residence at the University of Indiana in South Bend, makes a powerful impression with its vital, polished execution of three handsomely crafted American works of the 1930s, all unswervingly tonal and based on European models: the sweetly soulful, rather Gallic Third Quartet of Quincy Porter; the Opus 11 Quartet of Samuel Barber, with its celebrated slow movement (the original of the “Adagio for Strings”), and the aggressive, dashing First Quartet of Walter Piston (Koch Classics 7069).

Two young European ensembles deserve attention for their recordings of one of the medium’s ultimate challenges, the “Lyric Suite” of Alban Berg: the Artis Quartet from Vienna (Orfeo 21 901) and the Vogler Quartet (RCA 60855) out of what used to be East Berlin.

Where the Artis caresses the gnarled Bergian lyricism, the Vogler attacks it with chilling brilliance and intensity. Each is a convincing interpretation, but the thrills offered by the Vogler Quartet’s stunningly clean, lean ensemble tone, remarkable dynamic range and almost uncanny ability to allow us to follow the composer’s mood swings make it this listener’s preferred choice among current versions.

For others, repertory coupling may be the deciding factor.

Artis/Orfeo has Berg’s Opus 3 Quartet and the Third Quartet (1910) by Karl Weigl, a more benign--and long-winded--reaction to Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” than Berg’s similarly inspired “Lyric Suite.” Vogler/RCA offers, with questionable compatibility, a hard-boiled interpretation of Verdi’s E-minor Quartet.

String quartet aficionados take note: The Vogler Quartet will be making two local appearances this month, next Sunday in the Chamber Music in Historic Sites series, and Jan. 27 at a Music for Mischa concert.