# Favorite Quartet (Piece)



## Avey

Rather generic, simple thread -- though my _favorite_ type...

What is your *favorite* piece for string quartet? Not trio, quintet, even four cellos... Just your single preferred work for that ol' _Streichquartett_.

Interested to see what everyone falls back on. Or leaps on to? Or flies in on? Or lays down on?


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## Quartetfore

Impossible to pick just one.


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## niv

Right now, Debussy's. It might totally change in the future, tho'


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## mtmailey

I am sorry i can not choose just one but i will pick plenty like string quartets,14,15 &13 of SCHUBERT.


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## Klavierspieler

Beethoven 14. No question about it.


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## Xiansheng

Based on my recent listening habits, I guess my favorite right now would be Bartok's 4th. I can never go very long, though, without returning to Debussy's.


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## Art Rock

I'm torn between one of the late Schubert quartets or Dvorak's American.... OK, Dvorak it is.


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## Forte

All of Beethoven's late string quartets are to me the pinnacle of chamber music, and maybe of music. It's hard to choose between them - all of them have something so special about their form, or musical content. As a whole work, I might go with the Op. 131 C# minor quartet, but I also happen to love certain movements in Op. 127, Op. 130, and Op. 132 more. And of course, then there's the _Große Fuge_, Op. 133.

For some reason, Bartók's quartets really stick out for me. It may be the unorthodox that delights me in chamber music. I really hate to toss aside Haydn, Schubert, and Debussy - their chamber music is fantastic as well.

As for chamber works that are not included in the standard repertoire that I also really love, there are works by Joachim Raff that really deserve more attention. They include 8 excellent string quartets, a string sextet, a string octet, 4 piano trios, 2 piano quartets, and a piano quintet.


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## petter

Beethoven op.130.


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## Garlic

Having just listened to it, I have to pick the Grosse Fuge. Nothing else like it.


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## Forte

Garlic said:


> Having just listened to it, I have to pick the Grosse Fuge. Nothing else like it.


Maybe the greatest movement in chamber music ever. So beautiful, so ugly, so peaceful, so violent, so rooted in tradition, so avant-garde for its time.


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## mmsbls

I think I would oscillate between Dvorak's American and the Grosse Fuge.


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## EllenBurgess

just listened it up and would say its awesome here to go up....


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## Selby

If I had to pick just one it would probably be Faure's.


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## Celloman

Schubert's _Death and the Maiden_, probably. All that delicious darkness!


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## Stargazer

Not my favorite (I don't wanna have to pick one wahhhh!), but Gorecki's 2nd string quartet is my newest love!


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## jurianbai

Currently listen extensively to newly found Eduard Franck string quartets...


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## Kat

Anything by Dvorak, Mozart, or Haydn


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## Avey

Celloman said:


> Schubert's _Death and the Maiden_, probably. All that delicious darkness!


G Major, D 887 >>>> Death and Maiden.


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## schuberkovich

Schubert D887 is incredible and for me just edges the Death and the Maiden and Rosamunde. Listen to the incredible main theme of the first movement! My favourite part is when the cello plays it whilst the violin plays a high shimmering accompaniment. 

Also Dvorak's American and 14th, Beethoven's op.131 and 132, Haydn's Emperor, Ravel's, Shostakovich's 8th and 15th and both of Janacek's.


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## Avey

Glad we finally got a mention of Dvorak's 14th, or any of his other late quartets besides the American.

Dvorak had _it_ when it came to writing for the quartet/quintet. Vastly superior to Brahms, just edges Mendelssohn, and on par with Beethoven's Middle.

It just sounds like it came easy to him.


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## maestro57

Beethoven - String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 (and played by the Endellion String Quartet... thought I'd advertise that too!)


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## jimsumner

Another vote for LvB. #13 and #14.


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## Art Rock

Avey said:


> Dvorak had _it_ when it came to writing for the quartet/quintet. Vastly superior to Brahms.


Completely agree with this on the string quartet, but no on the string quintet. The two Brahms quintets are beautiful.


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## mgsgmusic

Surely one of the greatest is Haydns joke quartet ...


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## EllenBurgess

i dont know which one to pick up, as it has become quite a tough and impossible one to get on


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## Itullian

Razumovsky number 3 
Never tire of that finale.
I requested it at an Emerson String Quartet concert several years ago
and it was spectacular.


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## DaDirkNL

Beethoven #14, please!


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## Schumann

Mozart: String Quartet #17 In B Flat, K 458, "Hunt"


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## Wicked_one

I'll go with Grieg's Quartet No.1. That 1st movement has something way too charming and dramatic.


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## Pantheon

Mahler's unfinished Piano Quartet. So beautiful...


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## Avey

Itullian said:


> Razumovsky number 3
> Never tire of that finale.
> I requested it at an Emerson String Quartet concert several years ago
> and it was spectacular.


Nice pick! Wasn't expecting to see that


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## Chrythes

Beethoven's last, the 16th.


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## shangoyal

Very new to the genre, but I like Op. 130 by Beethoven. Incredible music indeed.


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## TurnaboutVox

Depending on mood - Schubert #14, D. 810 / Quartetto Italiano - so menacingly rhythmic; Beethoven #13, Op. 130 / Quatuor Talich - heart-stoppingly intimate; Hindemith #4, Op. 22 / Prague City Quartet; Webern 5 movements, Op. 5 / LaSalle Quartet which is still breathtaking 30 years after I discovered it. But in all honesty it feels invidious to select just 4 (I couldn't possibly pick just one favourite)


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## Winterreisender

In my opinion, Haydn and Mozart are the masters of the string quartet, although it is impossible to pick one piece which stands out over all others. If I had to I would say Haydn Op.76/3 ("Emperor") and Mozart K387 ("Spring")... but ask me tomorrow and I'd probably pick different ones.


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## Cheyenne

Probably Debussy or Webern Op. 28: I tend to prefer modern string quartets.


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## JCarmel

After that slow introduction...then suddenly, it's 'energised' & off-and-running?!! And usually, so am I......energised, just listening to _Schumann's Piano Quartet._
But_ what _a difficult question to answer?!


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## spradlig

Dvorak's American Quartet


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## Avey

So, currently obsessed with Nielsen's S.Q. #3 and #4. Very novel sound -- it's like the transition from Romantic-era to Bela Bartok's catalogue.


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## Guest

Somehow I never even knew that Nielsen had quartets! Thank you!


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## Frei aber froh

Well, this is extremely tough... but I'm going to have to say it's a tie between the Große Fuge, Beethoven Op. 131, and Shostakovich #8. Honorable mentions to Death and the Maiden, Schubert #14, and Tchaikovsky.


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## Whistler Fred

I'll try to keep this to just one, so as much as I would like to add Haydn, Bartok, Dvorak, etc. I settle on Mozart's Quartet No. 22. The whole piece is fetching, but the exuberant finale seals the deal for me.

Okay, I lied. I have to add Schubert's "Quartettsatz" D. 703. SO beautiful!


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## musicrom

Nobody's mentioned Smetana's String Quartet No. 1 "From My Life" yet???


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## Blancrocher

Beethoven's 14th (performed by the Emerson SQ). 

I'd like to make a plug for Roy Harris's 3rd, however, since I love it so and it's unlikely to be mentioned otherwise!


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## Quartetfore

Its nice to see that Beethovens "Last Quartets" come up so often. I just burned the Takacs Quartet`s set, and I think that all around its the best modern version. I do have the Emerson, Vegh, and Quartteto Italiano recordings, as well as several singles.


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## Roi N

Though some people mentioned Haydn, he hasn't recieved the recognition he deserves. My finalists (All Haydn, BTW) are Op. 33 'The Bird', 'The Joke', b minor; Op. 50 B Flat Major, F Major; Op. 54 G Major; Op. 76 D Major and d minor ('Quinten'). And the winner is... Op. 76 No. 2 in d minor 'Quinten'! You haven't heard a development until you heard this quartet. It's that simple.


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## Ukko

My favorite string quartets - by a _narrow_ margin over a bunch of others - are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quartets by Bartók, and Janacek's. They clear the mind, like Canadian air in July clears Vermont skies.


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## peeyaj

Newly favorite: Dvorak's American quartet


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## Combinebobnt

Beethoven's Grosse Fugue


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## howlingfantods

In some ways, the Shostakovich 8 reminds me of the Grosse Fuge, and I love listening them back to back.


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## Skilmarilion

Avey said:


> G Major, D 887 >>>> Death and Maiden.


Wow. A lot of arrows there. And something quite incredible lies to the right of those arrows.

So how is it that none of this is even close to ridiculous?


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## HolstThePhone

Mendelssohn's 6th - so much pain, my absolute favourite


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## MoonlightSonata

Easily the Grosse Fuge, followed by the C# minor quartet by the same composer.


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## Scififan

I love Haydn's Op 33 (Weller Quartet) and the Op 65 and Op 77 sets with the Kodaly Qt. 
Mozart's set dedicated to Haydn are great works. I have them played by The Eder Quartet and the Franz Scubert Quartet.The latter group also play the "Prussian" quartets.
My two favourites by Beethoven are the Op 127 and the Op. 131. The three recordings I like best are those of the Busch Qt, the Hollywood Qt, and the Vegh Quartet. 
Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" (Busch Qt) and the D.887 (Kodaly)are superb.
Those would represent my high water marks. I have heard nothing done later (not even by Shostakovich) that surpasses those.


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## Nynthe

Stravinsky once said of The Great Fugue "an absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever".

It sounds so fresh today, i cant imagine what it must have sounded like to an audience in 1825. Astounding.


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## QuietGuy

Ravel's String Quartet


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## starthrower

Wolfgang Rihm no. 3


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## Ilarion

I need them all - String Quartets by Shostakovich, of course...


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## Avey

QuietGuy said:


> Ravel's String Quartet


ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo gosh


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## silentio

Right now it is a share between Mozart's K.590 and Beethoven's Op.132.


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## Avey

*Smetana's SQ No. 1*

A lot of material, extrinsic stuff, to potentially discuss -- writing his life's narrative into the piece, literal and figurative elements, etc.

But just hearing this recently, off a recent recording of the Pavel Hass Quartet -- clearly excellent:








I am struck by the ultimate precision and particularity in each movement. On a first, or maybe tangential listen that is set in your background, the quartet gives off some _feeling_ and exciting waves. Like, the _largo_ is pleasant and the latter finale is fun --

*BOGUS!*

The end nearly made me cry, thinking about the man, the composer, the music he wrote at the moment, and how at one moment I was in joy and ready to go prancing (...or I already was!...) and embrace all the life because you finally saw it and understood it and could -- but to get struck by reality, by a ringing...

Then, the _largo_ was chilling; the polka almost in jest; the opening allegro pulling me in, to only carve ...

An incredible thing.


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