The Joachim String Quartet was arguably the most distinguished
and well-known performing group since the Schuppanzigh Quartet's reign
during the time of Beethoven. Joseph Joachim, born in 1831,
died in 1907, was one of the most admired
and influential violinists and musicians of his time.
He was a composer, conductor, teacher,
soloist and friend and advisor to Johannes Brahms,
as well as the first violinist of a quartet
that was active for almost 40 years.
The Joachim Quartet toured extensively
and their repertoire was devoted in large part to works
of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann,
and of course Brahms. A large lithograph of the Joachim Quartet with
Beethoven's opus 59 #3 String Quartet
on their music stands has hung for decades in one at the
Curtis Institute of Music's
teaching rooms. It was there when I struggled with my very first
string quartet assignments
as a student at Curtis and it is still there today.
The recording machine was invented in 1877,
and there are thankfully a few recordings
of Joachim as soloist, but it is
tantalizing to think that the Joachim String Quartet
could have recorded something for posterity.
They could have, but they did not,
and sadly, we are only left with that lithograph as a poor
visual substitute. The Busch String Quartet
almost literally picked up where the Joachim left off with
a gap of only a few years.
Adolph Busch, composer, conductor,
and one of the greatest German violinists of the first half of the 20th century,
founded the Vienna Konzertverein Quartet in 1912
and then the Busch String Quartet in 1919,
a group that performed worldwide with him
as first violinist for the next three decades. Busch not only formed
these quartets but also was
almost entirely responsible for their musical vision.
The Busch Quartet was admired for its interpretations of
Schubert, Brahms, but especially Beethoven.
Unlike the Joachim Quartet, the Busch Quartet recorded extensively.
In listening to their recordings of late Beethoven Quartets,
a modern listener would not be particularly impressed
by their technical polish.
What captivates is their choice of tempos,
the avoidance of lush sound for its own sake,
and the utter directness and musical depth of their interpretation.
The Busch Quartet was at that time the most typical
model of a string quartet with one leader, almost always the first violin,
whose name adorned the quartet, such as the Schuppanzigh,
The Joachim, the Capet, and the Rose string quartets.
These were the quartets that dominated the string quartet
field of that time and created the vision
that inspired quartets to follow. We string quartet players of this
era are forever grateful for the legacy
that they handed on to us.