# Beyond the Essential Repertoire in Classical Era Chamber Strings



## clavichorder

I have been on a chamber music kick and as you know, I am very fond of the classical era. I own that I do not know the chamber music from this period half so well as I do symphonies and concerti, however. I don't even know all the Haydn or Mozart quartets beyond the most famous, and only recently did I discover Mozart's quintets. Schubert, Beethoven, and young Mendelssohn aren't as familiar to me as well, except for the most famous. But, before I tempt you to fill in my gaps there, I am looking for more obscure string quartets, quintets, and any other type of piece that features chamber strings. 

So, we are talking about that long stretch of time between the 1750s and 1820s. I already know a few obscure ones, like Henri Joseph Rigel's quartets, and some of the Boccherini quintets(guidance with those would be appreciated if you think its worth the trouble). I imagine composers like Hummel had a few things to say, and so forth. Curious about cycles and odd gems here and there.


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## science

I look forward to these answers! 

I can suggest Arriaga's string quartets. I listened to them and can't remember....

Edit: My bad! Those are from 1824, just outside of the period you were asking about.


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## dgee

An approach that works for me for finding out new stuff around the edges (although not tested in classical era chamber music) is to follow artists who are playing the Mozarts and Haydns and Beethovens you like and find out what "non-mainline" stuff they're performing and recording as well. I expect this would work especially well with period instrument and more recent groups who are finding a niche in this era


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## KenOC

Arriaga's quartets are excellent, in the style of Beethoven's Op. 18 quartets though written in the early 1820s. Also Hummel's piano concertos, which I prefer to Czerny's or Reis's. Weber's symphonies have some startlingly good movements and some that are less inspired. His clarinet music (mostly concertos and concertinos) are diverting or better.

Still in the classical period, Shubert's early symphonies float my boat nicely. Finally, Mehul's four symphonies are quite good (the last two only recently rediscovered).

Oops, you want chamber music! Sorry about that. Let me think...


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## clavichorder

science said:


> I look forward to these answers!
> 
> I can suggest Arriaga's string quartets. I listened to them and can't remember....
> 
> Edit: My bad! Those are from 1824, just outside of the period you were asking about.


We can be flexible. I'll check those out!


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## science

clavichorder said:


> We can be flexible. I'll check those out!


I hope they help.

Myself, I feel I need to spend a lot more time with the quartets of Haydn, particularly op. 76 of course but also the other major collections, Mozart (I've never even heard the Prussian quartets), and Beethoven, particularly his late quartets (I just re-listened to the Beaux Arts' early stereo recording a few days ago). I feel a little better about my command of Schubert's late quartets.

If I ever feel more confident in my knowledge of the olympians, Boccherini is next, without a doubt.


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## musicrom

Luigi Cherubini wrote a set of 6 string quartets, and although I haven't heard all of them, his 1st is one of my favorites.

EDIT: Just remembered Donizetti too!


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## tortkis

I am searching for a recording of Wilms's string quartets, and I still don't have it, but found a youtube clip. He may be best at symphonies, but I think his string quartet is also very enjoyable.

Johann Wilhelm Wilms - String Quartet No. 1, Op. 25 (1806)


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## science

musicrom said:


> Luigi Cherubini wrote a set of 6 string quartets, and although I haven't heard all of them, his 1st is one of my favorites.


Yes! I'd forgotten about them. They're buried deep on my wish list....


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## PeterF

The string quartets by Pleyel would fit well. He wrote quite a few of them and I have found them charming.


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## PeterF

Just checked my CD collection and found a few other string quartet discs within the period you identified.

Leopold Kozeluh String Quartets Op.32, No's 1-3
Leopold Kozeluh String Quartets Op.33, No's 1-3
Pavel Vranicky String Quartets Op.16, No's 1-3


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## clavichorder

Franz Xaver Richter appears to have written string quartets. I find this interesting since he is of an older generation of composers than Haydn, or even Stamitz.


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## clavichorder

I have also decided that this Boccherini quintet is particularly nice, and yet I have not listened to any others in detail to determine whether it is actually a stand out or not. If it isn't, then I'm in for quite a bit of wonderful music. Its a nice, light, refreshing and unpredictable sort of classicism, it sort of lopes along with nice melodic invention and quirky irregularities.


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