A series made up primarily of the string quartet repertoire, with other string and/or chamber works included here and there. There’s so much of this stuff that’s so worthy of attention, and it would take too long to get through in the main mid-week series, so here we are.
performed by the Stanislas Quartet and Christian Ivaldi (cover image by Easton Oliver) Florent Schmitt was born on September 28, 1870 in Meurthe-et-Moselle, and entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 19, studying with Fauré, Massenet, Dubois, and Lavignac. … Continue reading Florent Schmitt: Piano Quintet in Bm, op. 51
performed by Quatuor Danel and Paavali Jumppanen, or below by Bell, Frank, Imai, Isserlis and Hamelin (cover image by Alessio Soggetti) César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was born (with a very long name) on December 10, 1822 in Liège, which is not in … Continue reading César Franck: Piano Quintet in Fm, FWV 7
performed by the Schubert Ensemble, or below by the Quatuor Ysaÿe with Pascal Rogé, piano (cover image by Abigail Keenan) Gabriel Urbain Fauré was born on May 12, 1845 in Pamiers, Ariège, “in the Occitanie region in southwestern France.” He was the youngest of six … Continue reading Gabriel Fauré: Piano Quartet no. 1 in Cm, op. 15
performed by the Denis Clavier Quartet with Dimitris Saroglou, piano (cover image by Gaetano Cessati) Louis Théodore Gouvy was born on July 3, 1819 into a “into a French-speaking family in the village of Goffontaine, in the Sarre, a region on the … Continue reading Louis Théodore Gouvy: Piano Quintet in A, op. 24
performed by Quatuor Diotima, available on Spotify or below second, third and fourth movements (cover image by Dmitrii Medvedev) André Georges Louis Onslow was born on 27 July 1784 in Clermont-Ferrand to an English farmer and French mother, thus considered … Continue reading Georges Onslow: String Quartet no. 28 in E-flat, op. 54
performed by the Quatuor à Cordes Jean-Noël Molard, available on Spotify, or as below in a(n incomplete) video by the Amistad String Quartet (cover image by Carolyn V) Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges was born on December 25, 1745 in Baillif, Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, … Continue reading Chevalier de Saint-Georges: String Quartet no. 1
performed by I Fiori Musicali, or as below (cover image by Larm Rmah) I willingly admit that I much prefer what moves me to what surprises me. François Couperin ‘Le Grand’ was born on November 10, 1668. He was born … Continue reading François Couperin: Concert Royal no. 1
performed by the Kontra Quartet (no YouTube, but you can listen to the work, at least to snippets, at Dacapo’s website for the complete quartets, here, or on Spotify, if that’s something you have. (cover image by Jeremy Bishop) Holmboe’s … Continue reading Holmboe String Quartet no. 3
performed by the Arditti Quartet (I find it unbelievable that the Arditti Quartet’s recordings are no longer in print and are therefore not available on Spotify or anywhere. Some copies can still be found on Amazon or other places, as … Continue reading Henze String Quartet no. 1
performed by the Czech Philharmonic Wind Ensemble & Zdenek Jilek, or below with Daniel Hoexter (piano) with members of the Concertgebouw Orchestra (cover image by Aaron Burden) Listening to this work, it just doesn’t surprise me that there aren’t very many works … Continue reading Beethoven Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Winds, op. 16
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet (cover image by Brenda Godinez) The seventh quartet of W. A. Mozart is the last of the so-called ‘Milanese quartets,’ written while the young composer was in Italy, and showing … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 7 in E flat, K. 160
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) Mozart’s sixth string quartet dates from 1773, again very early in his output, as evidenced by the low catalogue number. As part of the … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 6 in B flat, K. 159
performed by the Potomac Quartet So the first quartet really is a work inspired by Mr. Broch’s great novel called The Death of Virgil. he was working on it, finishing it then… and so when I finished the quartet, I knew … Continue reading Diamond String Quartet no. 1
performed by the Kyndel Quartet (available here on Spotify) (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) Here we are introducing the next composer in our Editor’s Choice lineup, Hilding Rosenberg. We’ve only seen him once on the blog before, and yet here … Continue reading Rosenberg String Quartet no. 1, op. 9
performed by the Artemis Quartet, or in a superb performance below by the American Quartet I am thinking of devoting myself almost entirely to this type of composition… Beethoven, to a publisher, regarding his composition of the Razumovsky quartets (cover … Continue reading Beethoven String Quartet no. 7 in F, op. 59 no. 1
performed by the Emerson String Quartet, or below by the Juilliard Quartet (cover image by Patrick Hendry) We’re going on a little journey. Come with me. Back to Bartók, and now in the second half of his output of six … Continue reading Bartók String Quartet no. 4, Sz. 91
performed by the Sjælland String Quartet (cover image by Kawin Harasai) Paul August von Klenau was born on February 11, 1883 in Copenhagen, and he there studied under Otto Malling, who himself studied under Niels Gade. (I wrote about Malling’s … Continue reading Paul von Klenau: String Quartet no. 1 in Em
performed by Isaac Stern and Charles Rosen, or below by Kyung Wha Chung and Kevin Kenner It is always over before it starts… Webern’s father, about op. 7 (cover image by Glen Carrie) He wasn’t wrong. One of Webern’s early works, … Continue reading Webern: 4 Stücke für Geige und Klavier, op. 7
performed by the Beaux Arts Trio, or below by the people credited in this video (cover image by Joanna Kosinska) Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born on May 29, 1897 in Brünn, Austria-Hungary, which is nowadays Brno, in what is apparently … Continue reading Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Piano trio in D, op. 1
performed by Cecil Aronowitz and the Amadeus Quartet, or as below: You have never before heard such a beautiful work from me. Brahms, writing of his quintet (cover image by Freddie Marriage) Brahms’s first string quintet, with an additional viola, … Continue reading Brahms String Quintet no. 1 in F, op. 88
performed by Tamás Vásáry, Thomas Brandis, Wolfram Christ and Ottomar Borwitzky, or below with Sviatoslav Richter and members of the Borodin Quartet (cover image by Maciej Rusek) We recently discussed the G minor quartet, op. 25, and it was a reminder … Continue reading Brahms Piano Quartet No. 2 in A, op. 26
Fugue for Thought 