performed by Steve’s Bedroom Band (I think) (more about that below), or from a very recent recording on Dacapo, linked below (second, third and fourth movements) Gustav Helsted was born 30 January, 1857, and was a composer. That’s literally all … Continue reading Gustav Helsted: String Quartet no. 4 in Fm, op. 33
performed by the folks listed in the following video So there are a few reasons we’re doubling up on Gade this week. For one, I couldn’t find a recording (because apparently none has ever been made) of August Winding’s op. … Continue reading Gade String Quartet in E minor
performed by the Pacifica Quartet on Cedille Records (sorry, no YouTube), or here in iTunes Meet Easley Blackwood, a living American composer. Easley Blackwood, Jr. was born on April 21, 1933 in Indianapolis, Indiana, started studying piano, and by 14 was making solo … Continue reading Easley Blackwood: String Quartet no. 1
performed by the Emerson String Quartet or below by the Pavel Haas Quartet Prokofiev’s first string quartet comes shortly after the first version of his symphony no. 4, and just before the fourth piano concerto (the left-handed one) (with a … Continue reading Prokofiev String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, op. 50
performed by the Borodin String Quartet (who else?) or below by the Moscow String Quartet Borodin was a rebel. The Mighty Handful of Russian composers were dedicated to producing distinctly Russian sounding music, or rather to establishing what that even would be, … Continue reading Borodin String Quartet no. 1 in A
performed by the Borodin Quartet …Tolstoy, sitting next to me and listening to the Andante of my First Quartet, burst into tears… The composer, from here or here Hello, old friend! It’s been a while since we did anything Tchaikovsky…. … Continue reading Tchaikovsky String Quartet No. 1 in D, op. 11
featuring Yun Peng Zhao from Quatuor Diotima. Listen here or in iTunes, or an abridged Chinese version here But when you listen to the twentieth century, maybe just give up this habit, for example, nice melody. For example, some drama… maybe … Continue reading Podcast: Livre pour Quatuor Diotima
performed by the Amadeus Quartet and movement 2 and movement 3 respectively, or in a complete performance here (with the score) that is also very nice And now we’ll jump back more than two hundred years before last week’s quartet … Continue reading W. A. Mozart String Quartet No. 3 in G, K. 156
performed by the Smith Quartet, or below by the Spektral Quartet or in another great performance here Here we are! This is something many more people will recognize as Philip Glass. The description of the above video says it is … Continue reading Glass String Quartet no. 2, ‘Company’
performed by The Smith Quartet (in a video below that seems not to be available in all countries. The album can be purchased here or in iTunes) I’ll be the first to say that this work isn’t the best place to start … Continue reading Philip Glass: String Quartet no. 1
performed (live) by the Emerson String Quartet, from their box set of the quartets “I visualized childhood scenes, somewhat naïve and bright moods associated with spring.” Dmitri Shostakovich from Epstein, Paul. Emerson String Quartet: “Shostakovich: The String Quartets” I wrote … Continue reading Shostakovich String Quartet no. 1 in C, Op. 49
performed by the Emerson String Quartet, or below by the Kodaly Quartet Any sounds in any combination and in any succession are henceforth free to be used in a musical continuity… -Claude Debussy Our first piece in the Darmstadt Series isn’t. … Continue reading Debussy String Quartet in Gm, op. 10
performed by the Juilliard Quartet Non multa sed multum (Not much in quantity, but much in content) A Deruchie We’re nearing the end of a long stretch of history (of course skipping over a lot) into the modern era, but … Continue reading Webern: Six Bagatelles, op. 9
performed by the LaSalle Quartet I owe very, very much to Mozart; and if one studies, for instance, the way in which I write for string quartet, then one cannot deny that I have learned this directly from Mozart. And … Continue reading Schoenberg String Quartet in D major
performed by the Lasalle Quartet or as below: I’m not going to take the time now to discuss why Alexander von Zemlinsky is as important a name as it is and do an Influential People post or anything; I’m not even sure … Continue reading Zemlinsky String Quartet no. 1 in A, op. 4
performed by the Melos Quartet There don’t seem to be any portraits of the Young Franz, at least not that I could dig up in a lazy search. Let’s listen. “Wait… isn’t this in C major?” It’s the darkest C … Continue reading Schubert String Quartet no. 4 in C, D. 46
performed by the Melos quartet So, like the early days with Haydn, we’re still in an early phase of Schubert’s quartet writing. Schubert never lived to be the age Haydn was when he wrote his op. 20 quartets, where we … Continue reading Schubert String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat, D 36
performed by the Artemis quartet, or in a live performance below by the Belcea quartet (I always love to watch the intensity of the performers playing these works) We’re on to Beethoven’s second string quartet, the no. 2 of the opus 18 … Continue reading Beethoven String Quartet No. 2 in G, op. 18, No. 2
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below, in an echoey recording by the Festetics Quartet We are now into the ‘Milanese quartets’, a true cycle of six quartets the young Mozart wrote in Milan between 1772 and 1773. These Milanese quartets … Continue reading W. A. Mozart String Quartet No. 2 in D major, K. 155
performed by the Buchberger quartet, or in a nice performance by the Quatuor Mosaïques This! This is the kind of thing we’ve been working toward. Haydn’s next quartet (reflecting the order in his own catalogue) is the string quartet no. … Continue reading Haydn String Quartet no 23 in Fm, op. 20 no. 5
performed by the Buchberger Quartet, or per the below links We’re just burning through the early Haydn quartets! (Maybe he should have, too! I kid, really.) The opus 17 quartets are as follows: Quartet No. 17 in F major, Op. … Continue reading SQS: Haydn String quartets 17-22, op. 17
Fugue for Thought 