# String quartets 1900 onwards



## whispering (Oct 26, 2013)

Hello

Please can I ask for some help. I have recordings of the string quartets by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn, etc. it has dawned on me that all my joy from string quartets originates from the classical and romantic periods.

I would like to broaden out and listen to string quartets written after say 1900. An arbitrary date but I have to start somewhere. Now this is where I need some help. Consider Bartock with six string quartets I believe. Then Shostakovich with quite a fair number. Trippett I believe composed six string quartets. 

Please can you advise for such composers which individual composition would be a good place to start, in terms of content and being representative of their individual style. In turn can you recommend composers who perhaps only wrote a single string quartet but it is worthy of listening to. I am aware of Elgar, Ravel, Debussy and Faure’s string quartets.

My great love is piano quintets and in recent times my threads asking for advice on the back waters of such works has been generously replied to. With string quartets, my second great passion, it is a case of widening my time frame.

Any suggestions and comments would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

You could do worse than browse this thread (there are also lots of 20th century quartets):
Weekly quartet. Just a music lover perspective.


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Also this thread for string quartets written during the last half of 20th century and into 21st:

*The Contemporary String Quartet: works written since 1970*


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Debussy and Ravel wrote one quartet each that are both easily enjoyable, imo.

Batok 1-6 These are a bit thornier but are great works worth the effort to spend time getting to know.

Janacek 1-2 I love both of these works and the 2nd is a truly great piece, imo.

Prokofiev No.2

Szymanowski 1-2

Schoenberg No.2


----------



## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

Hindemith and Martinu both wrote 7 string quartets each.
Berg - String Quartet, and Lyric Suite for string quartet
Webern - String Quartet and 5 Movements for String Quartet

Ben Johnston wrote 10 quartets that have been called the most difficult string quartets to play ever written. It took over 10 years of rehearsals and collaboration with the composer before the Kepler Quartet felt ready to perform and record the cycle. He uses a microtonal tuning system which requires an extremely precise ear to perform accurately.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I second SanAntone's recommendation of the quartets thread. But I never pass up the chance to put in a good word for Gloria Coates.


----------



## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

There are many good suggestions above. To those already mentioned, I'd add some of my favorite post-1900 string quartets (in addition to those quartets by Debussy, Ravel, Faure, Janacek, Shostakovich, Bartok, Schoenberg, Berg, etc.),

--Charles Koechlin - String Quartets 1-3: You might start with his first SQ, which is very underrated, IMO:

No. 1: 



No. 2: 



No. 3: 




--Albéric Magnard - String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 16: 




--Jean Sibelius - String Quartet in D Minor 'Voces Intimae', Op. 56: 




--Serge Prokofiev - String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2, speaking of two more very underrated SQs:









--Godfried Devreese - String Quartet in F Major: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=j7dP_Hd0jQU&list=OLAK5uy_nCPdq6PAolOawiU9Go8bM_4CC4CmonH9o

--Prosper van Eechaute - String Quartet No. 1 "à la mémoire de Maurice Ravel": 




--Ralph Vaughan Williams - String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2:









--Frank Martin - String Quartet: 




--Lars-Erik Larsson - String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2:





--Samuel Barber - String Quartet, Op. 11: 




If the Emerson Quartet doesn't work for you, here is Barber's famous Adagio movement, originally written for his string quartet, played separately in concert by the Dover String Quartet: 




--William Schuman - String Quartet No. 5: 




--Vagn Holmboe - String Quartets Nos. 2 & 13, etc.:

No. 2: 



No. 13: 




--Joonas Kokkonen - String Quartets Nos. 1-3--From my experience, it's easy to underrate these quartets on first impression, especially his third Quartet: Here's a link to No. 3: 



, and to all three quartets: 



. .

Kokkonen's Piano Quintet might be of interest to you, as well, considering where your interests lie, and that Kokkonen was at one stage of his career a concert pianist: 



.

--Peteris Vasks - String Quartet No. 4 (this quartet is a contemporary masterpiece, in my opinion; indeed I'd consider most of the quartets on this list to be masterworks in the genre, to varying degrees): 




--John Harbison - String Quartet No. 2: 




--Per Nørgård - String Quartet no.10 "Harvest Timeless": 




--Anders Hillborg - "Kongsgaard Variations": 



.

I hope people will make some worthwhile discoveries from the group of SQs I've listed above. If you give them a try, I feel confident that you will. Although I've only scratched the surface, as there are many more post-1900 quartets to explore.

My 7 cents.


----------



## Tarneem (Jan 3, 2022)

Reinhold Glière is a very elegant composer, may be you should check him out


----------



## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

*Malcolm Arnold* - String Quartets 1 & 2


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Shostakovich — All 15 of them. I like the Borodin Quartet (either of the first two iterations). If you want just one recommendation to start, I would say the Fifth Quartet.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Just a suggestion, but if the beginning of the 20th century is where you want to start from then I would make my way chronologically, beginning with those composers whose earliest quartets came c.1900 or just before. For example, the first instalment would give you the likes of Alexander Zemlinsky (4), Frank Bridge (4 offically, with an early un-numbered quartet), Arnold Schoenberg (same as Frank Bridge) and Charles Ives (2). This approach also has the advantage of being able to trace the individual composers' evolution within the genre itself.


----------



## whispering (Oct 26, 2013)

Dear Josquin13 thank you very much for your seven cents worth. I come from England so I am not familiar with that phrase but certainly your reply is worth more than seven cents IMHO. What I love about this forum is you ask a question and people reply in a positive way. However your reply is really great. I have been having a dive into your suggestions and agree there is a lot to enjoy. Sorry for the delay in replying but I wanted you to know I very much appreciate the detail and effort in your reply.

Mum use to say “it’s a funny old world, you never know what is around the next corner” as we would visit somewhere new. As she put it once to another hotel guest “well we had a bit of an adventure today”, a polite way of saying we got totally lost but had fun. Your reply was like turning a corner onto an unknown road. Thank you for the view and it will take me sometime to take in all the sights. 

Thank you to the others who replied to my question. The thing what always intrigues me about string quartets is you only have four players but the range of sound, melody, tempo, mood, etc, is so large. Any way best seven cents worth I am likely to get for a while so I close again with many thanks.


----------



## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

whispering writes, "Dear Josquin13 thank you very much for your seven cents worth. I come from England so I am not familiar with that phrase but certainly your reply is worth more than seven cents IMHO"

Yes, "my two cents" is an American expression. Though, curiously, it derives from a 16th century English phrase, "my two pennies worth". I sometimes write "my two cents" at the end of my posts, but occasionally, when I feel I've written a more valuable post, I'll add on to the cents. (I know, it's quirky.) In the case above, I decided my post was worth a whole 7 cents! So, I'm not surprised you haven't heard the expression before. I think I've done as high as 25 cent posts on TC before, or maybe a single 50 cent post... 

In any event, it was my pleasure. I know a ton of music from the Middle Ages to today, and I enjoy passing on these discoveries. Let me know, if one of the quartets I've recommended becomes a new favorite of yours, or if you particularly enjoy one or two of them. It's always nice to hear positive feedback.


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Second many of those listed above, but I would add Villa-Lobos.


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Along with the ones already mentioned I'd add:

Mieczysław Weinberg
Elliott Carter
Alfred Schnittke
Krzysztof Meyer
Wolfgang Rihm
Rued Langgaard


----------



## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

Most have been mentioned , but try those of Ernest Bloch too (especially 2 and 3)


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Personal favourite cycles from that time frame would be Shostakovich, Simpson, Gubaidulina, Myaskovsky, Weinberg, Zemlinsky, Nielsen, Bax, Villa-Lobos, and Johnston. Weird, but the Bartok cycle does not do it for me, even after many tries.


----------

