Performed by the Quatuor Diotima and Marie-Nicole Lemieux, or below by the Juilliard Quartet (without vocalist) If I haven’t already mentioned it, and I’m pretty sure I have, the works of Alban Berg might for many be the way into … Continue reading Berg: Lyric Suite
performed by the Quatuor Diotima, or below by the Juilliard Quartet playlist for the entire work here Qualifying Statements This is another revisit article, and one I’ve been meaning to rewrite for a long time. My previous articles on works … Continue reading Revisit: Webern’s 5 Sätze für Streichquartett, op. 5
performed by the Venice Quartet, or below by the Enso String Quartet Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini had a long name. He was born on December 22, 1858 in Lucca, Italy, one of nine children in the Puccini … Continue reading Giacomo Puccini: Crisantemi
performed by the Venice Quartet, or below by the Shanghai Quartet I’ve written a Quartet in my leisure moments in Naples. I had it performed one evening in my house, without attaching the least importance to it and without inviting … Continue reading Verdi String Quartet in E minor
performed by the Emerson String Quartet, or below by the Takács Quartet Bartók’s second quartet was written between 1915 and 1917, in Rákoskeresztúr, Hungary (or Gerersdorf in German, for those of you who don’t like consonants as much). What you may or … Continue reading Bartók String Quartet no. 2, Sz. 76
performed by the Maggini Quartet Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was born September 8, 1934 in Salford, Lancashire. He told his parents at the ripe young age of four that he wanted to be a composer, after having seen Gilbert & … Continue reading Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Naxos Quartet no. 1, op. 229
performed by the Arditti Quartet Brian Ferneyhough may well be one of the most important composers to emerge from the latter half of this century. Simultaneously famous and infamous, he is a controversial figure of world renown, bent on making … Continue reading Brian Ferneyhough: String Quartet no. 2
performed by the Delmé Quartet (Sorry, no YouTube this week, but I’m going to be linking below to program notes from Hyperion, who sells physical and digital copies of this music here. It’s also available on iTunes.) I’m very glad … Continue reading Simpson String Quartet no. 1
performed by the Auryn Quartet, or below by the Badke Quartet, with Tamsin Waley-Cohen as first violin We’ve actually featured Britten before, but only once, and we didn’t give anything of a bio, so here’s something short. Benjamin Britten was … Continue reading Britten String Quartet no. 2 in C, Op. 36
performed by the Divertimenti Ensemble (Sorry, again no YouTube here, but go support good record labels like Hyperion and buy the album if it’s something you feel you may like. I’ll be honest. There are some works that I’d purchase … Continue reading Herbert Howells: String Quartet no. 3 ‘In Gloucestershire’
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet Mozart’s fifth string quartet was written in 1773, the fourth of the Milanese quartets, as they are called, for where they were composed. Like all of the Milanese quartets, … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 5 in F major, K. 158
performed by the Quatuor Diotima and Sandrine Piau, or below by the New Vienna String Quartet and Evelyn Lear If I had to pinpoint a moment in musical history, a piece in particular that is the breaking point, the straw that … Continue reading Schoenberg String Quartet no. 2, op. 10
performed by the Hagen Quartet, or below by the Cherubini Quartet After Schumann’s vocal phase in 1840 and 1841, he turned to chamber music. All three quartets, collectively published under opus no. 41, as well as the piano quintet and … Continue reading Schumann String Quartet no. 2 in F, op. 41 no. 2
performed by the Melos Quartet Quick on the heels of the young composer’s incomplete fifth quartet is his sixth, in D major. The composition of this work begun just days after the completion (or abandonment?) of the fifth quartet, and … Continue reading Schubert String Quartet no. 6 in D major, D. 74
performed by the Melos Quartet 1813 was a busy year for the young Franz Schubert. But then again, to have died at 31 and written as much as he did, perhaps every year was a busy year for Franz Schubert. … Continue reading Schubert String Quartet no. 5 in B flat, D. 68
performed by the Artemis Quartet, or below by the Belcea Quartet Here we are, finally halfway through Beethoven’s Haydn-inspired (or at least influenced) installment of the six quartets, his first six, published as op. 18. As a matter of fact, … Continue reading Beethoven String Quartet no. 3 in D, op. 18 no. 3
Mozart’s fourth string quartet is the third of the six so-called Milanese quartets (no. 1 not included in that set). Like all the Milanese quartets, it’s in three movements, and like most of them, contains a middle movement in the … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 4 in C, K.157
performed by the Coull Quartet, or below by the Maggini String Quartet (do note that the video below is both the quartet and the quintet; the quartet itself is only about a half hour in performance) It is full of golden sounds … Continue reading Sir Edward Elgar: String Quartet in E minor, Op. 83
performed by the Prager Streichquartett, or below by the Cleveland Quartet This is one of those pieces that impedes the discovery of all the composer’s other works in the form. We’ll eventually get around to Saint-Saëns’ organ symphony, but it’s the one that makes … Continue reading Dvorak String Quartet no. 12 in F major Op. 96 ‘American’
performed by the Prager Streichquartett Wow… this is a long quartet. But maybe it shouldn’t be. The Prague String Quartet’s recording comes in at 48 minutes, which feels pretty hefty for a chamber work, but other recordings, like that from the … Continue reading Dvorak String Quartet no. 1 in A, op. 2
performed by the Kontra Quartet In his book Surprised by Beauty, Robert R. Reilly suggests taking the Holmboe quartets in their published order, saying they might be the most challenging listens of everything the composer wrote. He hails Holmboe’s output as … Continue reading Holmboe String Quartet no. 1, op. 46