# All time favourite String Quartet Ensembles



## userfume

I could not find a particular thread here discussing this.
Some of mine are:

Emerson String Quartet: I know they get accused of, despite their technical prowess, not being musical enough. However I love the way they play Shostakovich and Bartok - they play them with both a cleanness and a rawness which let the music shine through. Also their viola player is fantastic!

The Lindsays: I think that their recordings of the Debussy and Ravel SQs are perfect. No one matches the life they put into the Debussy, or the balance of the Ravel.

Quartetto Italiano: for Beethoven and Schubert. 'nuff said.

Pavel Haas Quartet: Despite not liking their Dvorak, I LOVE their Janacek, especially SQ no.1, for the energy and the way they seem to feel the music. I don't even mind the buzzy viola when they play music like this.


BONUS: Melos Quartet for their recording of Schubert's String Quintet with Rostropovich
and Cleveland Quartet for their Dvorak American :kiss:

WBU


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## Quartetfore

Very good selections, except for the Lindsays I have recordings of all of the groups.
QF


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## Prodromides

The Arditti Quartet, for me.

They have advocated contemporary compositions on such albums as those following below.
So ... Arditti is "No.1" with me by reason of their repertoire, and not by any particular performance techniques and/or stylizations.

Scelsi










Cerha



















Birtwistle


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## KenOC

I'm not sure the question can be answered except in terms of repertoire. But for me, the Takács Quartet are supreme in Beethoven and Bartok.


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## Weston

I still don't listen to very many string quartets compared to other chamber works because it seems the piano fills in something missing from strings alone, but the few I do enjoy are the *Cleveland Quartet* for Beethoven's SQ's and especially for the Grosse Fuge, and the *Guarneri Quartet*, also for Beethoven, especially the "Serioso."

The *Kodaly Quartet* is great for - well, for inexpensive but fairly well recorded Naxos stuff, Haydn, Schubert, and others that move me a lot but not so much I'd want to spend top dollar. Then there is the *Kronos Quartet* for really recent compositions.


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## userfume

No one else has any favourites!?


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## ptr

Well here are some of my favourites, all because they are damned good:

The Borodin Quartet (Dubinsky years) - Shostakovich

Taneyev Quartet - Anything Russian and Beethoven

Takács Quartet - Beethoven, Bartók, Schubert, Dvorak

Quatuor Mosaïques - Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn

Salomon Quartet - Mozart, Haýdn

Vanbrugh Quartet - Beethoven, British and Irish quartets

Quatuor Ysaÿe - Ravel, Debussy, Magnard, Fauré, French repertoire

Belcea Quartet - Britten, etc

St Petersburg Quartet - Shostakovich

Vegh Quartet - Beethoven, Bartok

Juilliard String Quartet - Bartok, Carter

London Haydn Quartet - Haydn

Lindsey Quartet - Beethoven, Haydn, Janaceck, Dvorak

Chilingirian Quartet - French Quartets

Kolisch Quartet - Schönberg

To name a few!

/ptr


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## KenOC

Has anybody mentioned the Quatuor Ebène? They're highly regarded by some, mostly for their recordings of French music. I have their disc with the Faure, Debussy, and Ravel quartets, but haven't listened to it yet...


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## BartokBela

The Takács Quartet is one of my favorites. Mainly because of their wonderful recordings of Bartok's SQs.


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## altiste

BartokBela said:


> The Takács Quartet is one of my favorites. Mainly because of their wonderful recordings of Bartok's SQs.


This is the sort of post I didn't want to see - I had the 6-quartet set, loaned it to someone who then gave it to someone else to listen to and I've never seen it since!

I got the Fitzwilliam Quartet doing some late Beethoven Quartets (from the dawn of the CD era) and never tired of those.

Being in France I often see the Quatuor Ebène mentioned....

There's a recording of Beethoven's Op. 59/2 that I like, not available commercially, but I played with the first violinist well after this was recorded: Daniel Rémy. I've heard enough quartets struggling to find a comfortable tempo for the first movement - this one seems to nail it.


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## Head_case

KenOC said:


> Has anybody mentioned the Quatuor Ebène? They're highly regarded by some, mostly for their recordings of French music. I have their disc with the Faure, Debussy, and Ravel quartets, but haven't listened to it yet...


That is their legendary disc which sealed their reputation.

I saw them in concert today. Their Haydn quartet was remarkably fine.

It was accompanied by the famous Bartok no.IV. They really made a mess of the first three movements. They just don't penetrate the core of this kind of repertoire.

After that concert I was disappointed they really aren't as good as the press reviews or their French classic CD. I suppose it didn't help the violist was poorly and the cellist couldn't stop making clacking noises.

Btw we covered this before....my favourite are the Taneyev Quartet.


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## Quartetfore

KenOC said:


> Has anybody mentioned the Quatuor Ebène? They're highly regarded by some, mostly for their recordings of French music. I have their disc with the Faure, Debussy, and Ravel quartets, but haven't listened to it yet...


I downloaded their Mozart K421, very nice.


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## Quartetfore

I can`t say I have a favorite or that matter favorites, but for beauty of sound I like theToyko String Quartet. I`ve hear them play a number of times, and their records don`t due them justice.


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## jurianbai

Hagen string quartet
Emerson string quartet
Maggini string quartet for most Naxos British series.
I think that's two make the most in my collection.

So far I can't single out favourite string quartet ensemble since I like to collect in unusual ways, that is to avoid same ensemble for each pieces, if possible.


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## TheVioletKing

Emerson and Kronos, but my knowledge in string quartets is limited.


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## KenOC

The late Beethoven quartets played by the excellent Yale Quartet are available as part of a Bach Guild download, which also includes a nice batch of sonatas played by Bruce Hungerford. I was very impressed by both sets. First-class stuff, and cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Beethoven..._shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364187867&sr=301-1


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## ptr

I dawns on me that I forgot some important ensembles among those I like.

Kronos Quartet - Schnittke, anything modern

Arditti Quartet - anything modern

Quatuor Danel - Weinberg

Yggrasil Quartet - Leifs

The Kontra Quartet - Holmboe, Nielsen, GAde, Kodaly, Svendsen

Den Unge Danske Kvartett - Nielsen

And I'm sure that I will be reminded of further omissions in due course!

/ptr


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## Guest

In addition to the ones above, I would like to mention:
Buchberger Quartet for Haydn.
Quatuor Mosaiques for Haydn.
Alban Berg Quartet for Beethoven.


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## Art Rock

Kronos and Kodaly.


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