# Sticky  Merl's Blogged String Quartet and String Quintet reviews



## Merl

As some of you are aware I started blogging my recommended string quartet recordings a while back as I didn't want to lose them in the Weekly String Quartet thread. However, blogging on TC has many limitations and there was no way to link all my posts in one place without the page disappearing further down the blog so, thanks to the suggestion of a friendly moderator, I've decided to link them here, in this post, which will be updated regularly with links to my blogs.

The aim of my blogs is not to be all high and mighty, narcissistic and the last word on these quartets. Far from it. With each quartet I've set out to hear as many of the available recordings as possible, bring them to people's attention and give my own personal recommendations and perhaps challenge the typical staid opinions you may read online and explore often overlooked or rare accounts. In this way my reviews are very different from Trout's recommended lists which are based on averages of online reviews and not on any subjective listening from the poster. I'm always looking for new or rarer quartet recordings so when I do get to hear one of these later, and I've not included it in my reviews, then if it is of good enough quality I will include it. My thoughts are not hard and fast either. I have changed my mind and upgraded/demoted recordings since my original reviews plenty of times. *Remember these are my opinions* and some of you will disagree so please don't be upset if your favourite recording is not on the list but you can question me on this in my original blog post. It may be that I've not heard it (I can get access to around 95% of recordings unless they are uber-rare and massively OOP - YouTube is a great help there) or it's impossible to hear a recording. Hopefully, these reviews will flag up a few less well-known recordings that I believe are very worthy of your consideration.

*I start each review with no biases. I don't believe in any of the tired old clichés about certain quartets always playing in a certain way and that's not been my experience doing these reviews. If a particular quartet feature regularly near the top then they're there on merit NOT reputation. I don't take other critic's reviews into consideration, btw, (some are just pish, tbh). *

Whilst you'll notice there are a few things that I feel detract, for me, in SQ recordings I am as subjective as possible and will try and give you a good idea of why I rate the particular performance in my own non-technical terms (I don't read music and my music terminology is limited to what I've picked up over the years). For some quartets, where there are huge numbers of recordings, I have had to do a tiny bit of skip-listening initially to narrow down the field due to time constraints but this rarely means I miss a gem. I need to be very selective in bigger quartets where even many easily recommendable recordings haven't made the cut due to the vast numbers and I've tried to say so in my quartet preamble. This is particularly true of those quartets with over 100 recordings (Schubert's Death and the Maiden and Dvorak's American quartets, for example, were massive undertakings). I had a head start with some of the big hitters (eg. All the Beethoven quartets, Dvorak 10 onwards , Schubert 12 onwards , some Mozart, some Mendelssohn, etc) as I contributed to a now defunct blog many years ago and even though the blog was removed and my reviews lost (the silly owner infringed copyright - not my fault) I kept my large book with all my handwritten notes. The hard bit is trying to pick up all the spares released since then. I think I covered quite a lot of SQs in those blogs so hopefully I'll get round to catching up with all those (I still have about 30 left with notes to put on here) plus keeping going with the weekly thread in the next few years.

So here are my reviews and thoughts..if you wish to comment please do so in the original blog as this thread will be locked after posting.

Afanasyev - String Quartet 'Volga'
Alwyn - String Quartet 3
Arensky - String Quartet 1 op.11
Arensky - String Quartet 2 op.35
Arnold - String Quartet 1 op.23
Arnold - String Quartet 2 op.118
Arriaga - String Quartet 1
Arriaga - String Quartet 2
Arriaga - String Quartet 3
Atterberg - String Quartet 2 op.11
Atterberg - String Quartet 3 op.39
Bacewicz - String Quartet 4
Barber - String Quartet op.11
Bartok - String Quartet 3
Bartók - String Quartet 4
Bartok - String Quartet 5
Bax - String Quartet 1
Bax - String Quartet 2
Bax - String Quartet 3
Beach, Amy - String Quartet in One Movement op.89
Beethoven - String Quartet 1 op18/1
Beethoven - String Quartet 2 op.18/2
Beethoven - String Quartet 3 op.18/3
Beethoven - String Quartet 4 op.18/4
Beethoven - String Quartet 5 op.18/5
Beethoven - String Quartet 6 op.18/6
Beethoven - String Quartet 7 'Razumovsky' op.59/1
Beethoven - String Quartet 8 'Rasumovsky' op.59/2
Beethoven - String Quartet 9 'Razumovsky' op.59/3
Beethoven - String Quartet 10 op.74 'Harp'
Beethoven - String Quartet 11 op.95 'Serioso'
Beethoven - String Quartet 12 op.127
Beethoven - String Quartet 13 op. 130
Beethoven - String Quartet 14 op.131
Beethoven - String Quartet 15 op.132
Beethoven - String Quartet 16 op. 135
Beethoven - String Quartet op.133 'Grosse Fugue'
Beethoven - String Quartet in F major Hess 34
Berg - Lyric Suite
Berwald - String Quartet 1
Berwald - String Quartet 2
Berwald - String Quartet 3
Borodin - String Quartet 1 (on a theme of Beethoven)
Borodin - String Quartet 2
Brahms - String Quartet 1 op.51
Brahms - String Quartet 2 op.51/2
Brahms - String Quartet 3 op.67
Bretón - String Quartet 1
Bridge - String Quartet 2 H.115
Britten - String Quartet 1 op.25
Britten - String Quartet 2 op.36
Britten - String Quartet 3 op.94
Britten - Simple Symphony op.4
Britten - Three Divertimenti for String Quartet
Bruch - String Quartet 2 op.10
Bruckner - String Quartet in C Minor
Brunetti - String Quartet in A major (1789)
Brunetti - String Quartet in B Flat Major (1792)
Busoni - String Quartet 1 op.19
Busoni - String Quartet 2 op.26
Cage - String Quartet in Four Parts
Cerha - String Quartet 2
Chausson - String Quartet op.35
Cherubini - String Quartet 1
Cherubini - String Quartet 2
Cherubini - String Quartet 3
Cherubini - String Quartet 4
Cherubini - String Quartet 5
Cherubini - String Quartet 6
Chin - ParaMetaString for String Quartet and Tape
Czerny - String Quartet in D Minor
Debussy - String Quartet in G Minor op. 10
Delius - String Quartet
D'indy - String Quartet 1 op.35
Dohnanyi - String Quartet 2 op.15
Dutilleux - Ainsi la nuit
Dvořák - String Quartet 1
Dvořák - String Quartet 2
Dvořák - String Quartet 3
Dvořák - String Quartet 4
Dvořák - String Quartet 5 op.9
Dvořák - String Quartet 6 op.12
Dvořák - String Quartet 7 op.16
Dvořák - String Quartet 8 op. 80
Dvořák - String Quartet 9 op.34
Dvořák - String Quartet 10 'Slavonic' op.51
Dvořák - String Quartet 11 op.61
Dvořák - String Quartet 12 'American' op.96
Dvořák - String Quartet 13 op.106
Dvořák - String Quartet 14 op.105
Dvorak - Cypresses
Elgar - String Quartet op.83
Enescu - String Quartet 1 op.22
Enescu - String Quartet 2 op.22
Fanny Mendelssohn - String Quartet in E Flat major
Farwell - String Quartet 'The Hako' op.65
Fauré - String Quartet in E Minor op.121
Franck - String Quartet in D Major
Gernsheim - String Quartet 3 op.51
Glazunov - String Quartet 5 op.70
Glazunov - 5 Novelettes for String Quartet op.15
Glinka - String Quartet 1
Glinka - String Quartet 2
Golijov - Tenebrae for String Quartet
Golijov - Yiddishbbuk for String Quartet
Grieg - String Quartet in G Minor op.27
Hartmann - String Quartet 1 'Carillon'
Haydn - String Quartet op.20/3
Haydn - String Quartet op.20/5 'Sun'
Haydn - String Quartet op.33/3 'Bird'
Haydn - String Quartet op.50/4
Haydn - The Seven Last Words of Christ op.51
Haydn - String Quartet op.76/2 'Fifths'
Hillborg - Kongsgaard Variations
Hindemith - String Quartet 4
Holmboe - String Quartet 15 op.135
Honegger - String Quartet 3
Hovhaness - String Quartet 1 'Jupiter' op.8
Howells - String Quartet 3 'In Gloucestershire'
Hummel - String Quartet 2 op.30
Ireland - String Quartet 1&2 / Holy Boy
Ives - String Quartet 1 From the Salvation Army - A Revival Service
Ives - String Quartet 2
Janacek - String Quartet 1 'Kreutzer Sonata'
Janacek - String Quartet 2 'Intimate Letters'
Janacek - On An Overgrown Path (arr. for SQ)
Johnston, Ben - String Quartet 4 'The Ascent:Amazing Grace'
Kabalevsky - String Quartet 1 op.8
Kabalevsky - String Quartet 2 op.44
Kalliwoda - String Quartet 1 op.61
Kodaly - String Quartet 1 op.2
Kodaly - String Quartet 2 op.10
Kokkonen - String Quartet 3
Korngold - String Quartet 1 op.16
Korngold - String Quartet 2 op.26
Korngold - String Quartet 3 op.34
Lalo - String Quartet op.45
Langgaard - String Quartet 3
Martinu - String Quartet 7
Mendelssohn - String Quartet in E Flat Major MWV R18
Mendelssohn - String Quartet 1 op.12
Mendelssohn - String Quartet 2 op.13
Mendelssohn - String Quartet 3 op.44/1
Mendelssohn - String Quartet 4 op.44/2
Mendelssohn - String Quartet 5 op.44/3
Mendelssohn - String Quartet 6 op.80
Mendelssohn - Four Pieces for String Quartet op.81
Milhaud - String Quartet 1
Mosolov - String Quartet 1 op.24
Mozart - String Quartet 17 'The Hunt' K458
Mozart - String Quartet 18 K464 'Drum'
Mozart - String Quartet 19 "Dissonance" K465
Mozart - String Quartet 20 'Hoffmeister' K499
Mozart - String Quartet 21 K575
Mozart - String Quartet 22 K.589
Mozart - String Quartet 23 K590
Myaskovsky - String Quartet 13
Nielsen - String Quartet 1 op.13
Nielsen - String Quartet 3 op.14
Novak - String Quartet 1 op.22
Novak - String Quartet 2 op.35
Novak - String Quartet 3 op.66
Penderecki - String Quartet 3 'Leaves of an Unwritten Diary'
Prokofiev - String Quartet 1 op.50
Prokofiev - String Quartet 2 "Kabardinian" op.92
Puccini - Crisantemi SC.65
Rachmaninoff - String Quartet 1
Rachmaninoff - String Quartet 2
Rangström - String Quartet 'Ein Nachtstück (Nocturne in E. T. A. Hoffman Style)'
Ravel - String Quartet in F Major
Reger - String Quartet 1 op.54
Reger - String Quartet 2 op.54
Reger - String Quartet 3 op.74
Reger - String Quartet 4 op.109
Reger - String Quartet 5 op.121
Rubbra - String Quartet 3 op.112
Saint-Saëns - String Quartet 1 op.112
Saint-Saens - String Quartet 2 op.153
Schnittke - String Quartet 3
Schoenberg - String Quartet 4
Schubert - 5 minuets 6 trios d89
Schubert - String Quartet 1 D.18
Schubert - String Quartet 2 D.32
Schubert - String Quartet 3 D.36
Schubert - String Quartet 4 D.46
Schubert - String Quartet 5 D.68
Schubert - String Quartet 6 D.74
Schubert - String Quartet 7 D.94
Schubert - String Quartet 8 D.112
Schubert - String Quartet 9 D.173
Schubert - String Quartet 10 D.87 'Household'
Schubert - String Quartet 11 D.353
Schubert - String Quartet 12 'Quartettsatz' D703
Schubert - String Quartet 13 'Rosamunde' D804
Schubert - String Quartet 14 'Death & the Maiden' D810
Schubert - String Quartet 15 D887
Schumann - String Quartet 1 op.41
Schumann - String Quartet 2 op.41
Schumann - String Quartet 3 op.41
Shostakovich - String Quartet 1 op.49
Shostakovich - String Quartet 2 op.68
Shostakovich - String Quartet 3 op.73
Shostakovich - String Quartet 4 op. 83
Shostakovich - String Quartet 5 op.92
Shostakovich - String Quartet 6 op.11
Shostakovich - String Quartet 7 op.108
Shostakovich - String Quartet 8 op.110
Sibelius - String Quartet in D Minor "Voces Intimae" op.56
Silvestrov - String Quartet 1
Smetana - String Quartet 1 "From My Life"
Smetana - String Quartet 2
Stravinsky - Three Pieces for String Quartet
Suk - String Quartet 1 op.11
Suk - String Quartet 2 op.31
Suk - Meditation on an Old Czech Chorale "St. Wenceslas" Op. 35a
Szymanowski - String Quartet 1 op.37
Taneyev - String Quartet 1 op.4
Taneyev - String Quartet 2 op.5
Tchaikovsky - String Quartet 1 op.11
Tchaikovsky - String Quartet 2 op.22
Tchaikovsky - String Quartet 3 op.30
Tippett - String Quartet 2
Tower - In Memory
Tubin - String Quartet on Estonian Folk Pieces
Turina - Oracion del Torero op.34
Vasks - String Quartet 4
Vaughan Williams - String Quartet 2
Verdi - String Quartet in E Minor
Volkmann - String Quartet 5 op.37
Walton - String Quartet 1922
Walton - String Quartet 2 in A Minor
Webern - Langsamer Satz
Weill - String Quartet op.8
Wolf - String Quartet in D Minor
Wolf - Italian Serenade
Zemlinsky - String Quartet 4

As an addendum to my quartets reviews (above) I've also been reviewing string quintets so these will be appearing in the list below. Like the quartet reviews these are working documents and will be updated whenever possible. I will continue to review string quartets along with string quintets.

Beethoven - String Quintet op.29
Dvorak - String Quintet 3 op.97 'American'
Nielsen - String Quintet in G Major
Vaughan Williams - Phantasy Quintet


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