# Favorite string octets?



## GermanViolin

Recently I have fell in love with the Mendelssohn String Octet in E-flat major. I've also been listening to Bruch's string octet's as well. Can anyone recommend any others that I should check out?


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## emiellucifuge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octet_(Schubert)

Schubert


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## Taneyev

Joachim Raff string octet. Beautiful.


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## Ukko

Mendelssohn's.


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## FrankieP

Svendsen - Op. 3!


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## opus55

My favorites are Mendelssohn and Gade octets because this is the only octet recording I got :lol:










I liked them both but never explored the genre any further simply because I don't have time..


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## Taneyev

Max Bruch. Unknown, as nearly all his chamber.


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## Quartetfore

Reinhold Gliere --Octet. Both the Octet and Sextet on the MDG label. Beautiful music in the Romantic Russian


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## kv466

Mendelssohn for now but I haven't explored enough string octets yet.


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## mmsbls

My favorites have been mentioned - Mendelssohn, Bruch, Schubert, Svendsen (probably in that order). 

@Quartetfore: Thanks for mentioning the Gliere, which I have not heard. Unfortunately, I can't find his octet on Naxos or Spotify, but there is at least the first movement on youtube. It sounds potentially like a work I may want to get.


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## tdc

Another one that hasn't been mentioned is the Bargiel Octet, its a good work - it comes bundled with the Mendelssohn Octet on the Hyperion recording. Unfortunately I couldn't find a youtube clip of it.


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## joen_cph

Spohr´s Double Quartets are among his better and most attractive works.


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## Taneyev

Quartetfore said:


> Reinhold Gliere --Octet. Both the Octet and Sextet on the MDG label. Beautiful music in the Romantic Russian


Yes! I forgot him. I've that CD and it's fantastic ( If you like Russian music) As are his string quartets.


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## Quartetfore

Bargiel--played his 2nd. Piano Trio today.


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## GermanViolin

Bruch is really really good! The 2nd movement is beautiful!


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## Fugue Meister

I doubt I'll find and octet better than Mendelssohn's (and he wrote it when he was 16!)


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## csacks

Just to enlarge the list of octets, there is another one by Igor Stravinsky, for wind instruments. It is from 1922/3, is very rhythmic. It worth a try!!


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## elgar's ghost

Villa Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras no. 1 (written for cellos only, but a minimum of 8 - so this is a bit of cheating by me)


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## Rameau

My favorite string octet is Shostakovich's Two Pieces for String Octet. The first piece entitled as a Prelude is just magical and gives the listener a hypnotic sensation at times. The second piece which is a Scherzo (hardly a joke in this instance) is a powerful work which tumbles at a very fast tempo almost rushing. Shostakovich wrote it when he was only 19 years old but it demonstrates what a genius he was all through his career as a composer.


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## Guest

I haven't listened to it more than once, but Milhaud's Octet is intriguing. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's basically two of his late quartets played simultaneously.


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## Forte

Taneyev said:


> Joachim Raff string octet. Beautiful.


Yes!

Mendelssohn's is one of the best chamber works period. I would love to play it with seven other people someday.


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## nightscape

Enescu


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## PeterF

Separate from Spohr's Double Quartets is his Octet, Op.32
I have a CD copy by The Nash Ensemble on the CRD label.


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## LarryShone

emiellucifuge said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octet_(Schubert)
> 
> Schubert


Yes, this one for me!


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## Enjoying Life

I think the Schubert Octet mentioned in this thread is a mixed wind and string piece and not a string only piece.


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