# String quartets, for starters



## Naccio

Hi,
What are some intelligent and vibrant string quartets in a broad area of style?
Thanks


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## PetrB

Haydn
Mozart (don't miss the string _quintets ~ two violins, two violas and cello)_
Beethoven
Brahms (don't miss the string sextets)
Debussy
Ravel
Schoenberg (don't miss his early op. 4 string sextet _Verklärte Nacht_)
Bartok
Elliott Carter
Luciano Berio
Michael Finnissy

...mid-late 1700's through to fairly recent early 21st century.


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## Alypius

This is easy in one sense. There are so many great ones and such a broad range of styles. Almost from the beginning, the string quartet has been one of the most forward-looking of genres. It's where composers often composed their boldest works. In a previous thread that you started, you asked for recommendations that were akin to Mozart's Prague Symphony and to Beethoven Nine Symphonies. So let me start with works from that period:

*Haydn:* The inventor of the string quartet was Haydn. It would be easy and true to say just start with any of Haydn's. But his output was vast. He published them in groups of 6 or in groups of 3. I would recommend starting with the six that make up Opus 20, and follow up the six that make up Opus 76. (Some will rightly advocate for the 6 from Opus 33). Here I strongly recommend exploring performances played on original instruments. The best, to my mind, is the Quatuor Mosaiques. Also very good is the more recent London Haydn Quartet (who have recorded op. 20 and 33, but not 76).










Mozart has 6 quartets "dedicated to Haydn", composed in honor of Haydn (who was both a father figure and friend). Mozart admitted in his dedication-preface how much work composing them proved to be -- no small admission from a composer of such genius. They are wonderful, but start with Haydn.

*Beethoven:* Beethoven's are in three groups, the 6 from Opus 18, a middle four (op. 59, no. 1, 2, and 3; a single, op. 74); and the 6 "late" quartets. All are masterpieces, but the last 6 are exceptionally bold, really pathbreaking and they set dizzyingly high standards for all composers who followed. Some find them challenging. (I don't). There are many many fine complete sets or cycles. The two I recommend are the Takacs Quartet and the Alban Berg Quartet. The Takacs is bolder and (intentionally) rawer, rougher; Alban Berg more overtly refined. Others will advocate other fine cycles (the Tokyo Quartet has two; the Belcea just completed theirs; there are great older ones, such as the Quartetto Italiano):










That should get you started.

*Debussy & Ravel:* But let me recommend one very important pairing, namely, Debussy's one quartet and Ravel's one. Ravel composed his 10 years after Debussy's while still a grad student and in honor of Debussy. Because of the surface similarities between the two stylistically, they are routinely recorded together, and most groups add a third. Here I recommend the Quatuor Ebene's performance, which won Gramophone's prestigious "Record of the Year" in 2009.


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## Alypius

A follow up:

*Schubert:* Schubert has a number of fine ones but his best known is nicknamed "Death and the Maiden" since it plays off one of Schubert's lieder with that very title. There are many fine performances: the Takacs, the Belcea, and Quartetto Italiano, but the Pavel Haas Quartet released a version just last year and it has been exceptionally well reviewed and is liable to win some awards this year.










Some would say Schubert's final quartet (#15 in G, D.887) may be even greater. For this, I recommend the recent performance by the Cuarteto Casals:










*Bartok:* Bartok's 6 quartets are among the finest works of the 20th century. He composed them over the course of his career -- and so they are brilliant summations of each phase of his career. There has been a good thread devoted to a discussion of them. Here's the link: http://www.talkclassical.com/31828-cycle-review-bartok.html. Fair warning: they are often dissonant and noisy -- but have some of the most exciting rhythmic sequences in the history of classical music. However dissonant, Bartok took his cues from his extraordinary researches into Eastern European folk music. There are rowdy gypsy spirits that lie within these. Again, the Takacs Quartet's performance is masterful.










All that is only the tip of the iceberg. Shostakovich has 15, and his cycle is almost as important (but not as diverse) as Bartok's. Let me stop there. I'll wait until you have had a chance to explore some of these before I add any others.


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## Naccio

Greta Great! I'll look into my homework of pleasure!


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## Naccio

Wow! Thanks a lot Alypius this is a major ED, so grateful! I have some unfinished work with study of some last symphonies I'm hearing, then I come to this wonderful world of string quartets
Very appreciated
N


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