Haydn - String Quartet 77 [Kodaly Quartet]This is the Third String Quartet of Haydn's Op 76 set of six, last month i reviewed the Second [28th July 2010], this Quartet includes the famous piece, which is the German National Anthem.
Again a mention must be made of the awful booklet cover, someone at Naxos should win an award for this!, i only hope that in the future the Op76 set of these String Quartets get re-released into a two disc set, with a really nice cover.
Of course i love the second movement, an ingenious set of variations, which is based upon the German National Anthem, but on this listen, i really liked the first movement, it's bright and breezy, it has that Haydnesque quality about all of his first movements, full of invention and excitement, Haydn uses the sure fire technique of repetition to great effect, everything is swung around again and again, like some wonderful merry-go-round that dazzles you, it opens with a lovely theme [0:00-1:02], well thrown around by all the string players, which returns more glorious a couple of times more [1:55+ & 5:07], right afterwards comes a more virtuoso and exhilarating 'ending' to this theme [1:02+], and this also returns in ever dizzying repetitions later [1:32+, 2:56+, 3:26+ & 5:54+], it sounds like one big Rondo, the repeats are heavenly.
Here's the Duchow String Quartet playing the first movement on YouTube.
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