Charles Gounod - String Quartets

[Wieland]

A recording of all six string quartets of French composer Charles Gounod by the Quatuor Cambini-Paris is announced:

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/integrale-des-quatuors-a/hnum/8192912

[semloh]

Thanks for the notice, Wieland. I'm sure this will be a welcome release for many on UC. The soundbites suggest rich playing, in a slightly reverberant acoustic, and the effect  - to my ears at least - is splendid. I love Gounod's music, and this is a fine addition. I haven't looked at what the critics say!

[Wieland]

Well, I tried to get some information on the quality of the quartets but that is not easy. There was one previous recording of 3 quartets by the Danel Quartet, but I could not find any review. A concert review of the 3rd quartet relates it to Beethoven and Brahms. There is an amateur/student video on youtube of one quartet, but that's it. So there is some risk involved when you order it, but I love to take risks , at least when it comes to music.

[Double-A]

The quartet on youtube you mention is apparently no. 3 in a-minor.  I have owned the sheet music for at least 50 years (my parents replaced it for me as a birthday present when I lost it, it cost SFr 64.- back around 1970 or so; I would have bought my son some other music!).  The salesperson at Musik Hug recommended it when I, then barely a teenager, asked for music for string quartet music that would be playable for beginners in quartet playing.  It may not be as easy as all that.  But it is playable and enjoyable without however being a masterpiece of great depth (sometimes this sort of piece is just what one needs isn't it?).  And it has four parts, all fun to play.  Bonus sentimental fact:  It is dedicated "à mon petit-fils Charles de Lassus".  The last movement has the footnote:  Thême donné par Charles de Lassus a deux ans" and the almost two measures of that "thême" are exactly pointed out in the music.

IMSLP has only this quartet by Gounod and there is a remark on the page that says that there exist "at least four" quartets of his.  So why this one has number 3 is not clear as it was obviously written late in Gounod's life (it appeared posthumously--and my edition is I believe a reprint of the original one). 

The performance by the amateurs on youtube is indeed less than optimal.  There is however also this playlist by the Silzer Quartet which is competently played (it contains also a quartet by Kozeluch).  I'd do the (Allegretto quasi moderato) second movement a bit faster, less sticky and the last movement (Allegretto) a bit slower to bring out the contrasting legato passages more convincingly (I can never figure out why so many people play "allegretto" like andante when it is in a "slow" second movement and like "allegro" when it is in a last movement...).  But I like it on the whole.

There is further the first movement of a Quartet in g-minor with the Quatuor Monet, recorded at a performance in Tokio.  This is a much more engaged and intense performance and possibly a work of more depth than the a-minor (I have heard it only once and only one of the movements so no definite judgement).  The recording by the Danel quartet contains quartets in D, A and F so this is a different work and brings the total number to 5, assuming nobody made an error with the keys.

[Double-A]

A quick search for sheet music brings up music for a quartet in a-minor (2 editions or 2 different quartets?), A-Major, c-minor (is this the g-minor of the youtube recording???), and F-Major at Sheetmusic Plus) and the same selection at Musik Hug except there are 3 editions for a quartet in a-minor rather than just 2.
This makes things even more confusing.

[jdperdrix]

Some information is available on BruZane database:
http://www.bruzanemediabase.com/fre/AEuvres/(searchText)/gounod
It mentions five quartets. For each of them, it gives some details (the same as in the booklet of the CD):
Quartets are
G 561 in C (1885) - "Petit quatuor", Possibly composed around 1875
G 562 in A (1887) - #2 on the autograph
G 563 in F (1889) - #3 on the autograph
G 564 in A minor (1890) - published posthumously as #3
G 565 in G minor (1892)
G 562, G 563 and G 565 were unknown until the manuscripts reappeared in 1993...

Gounod did not intend to publish them. Quote from Saint-Saëns: "No one saw these quartets: they have disappeared..."

[semloh]

Ah, I see why I was a bit confused! Wieland's announcement said:
A recording of all six string quartets of French composer Charles Gounod by the Quatuor Cambini-Paris is announced:
...but the set actually contains the five quartets, G561-565, as listed by jdperdrix.

[John Boyer]

It is good that these are not juvenilia, but rather the products of Gounod's mature years. I listened to the first disc of the set today. They are a trifle academic perhaps, but they are worth a try. In any case, I think they are more successful than the corresponding quartets of Vieuxtemps, but you'll need to decide for yourself.