# Recomendations for Late Romantic era String Quartets?



## Truckload

I was listening to and enjoying Dvorak's "American Quartet" and wondering, are there other string quartets from the late romantic era I should experience? Any recommendations?


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## Mahlerian

Brahms, Schoenberg's First (and the earlier D major), and Tchaikovsky come immediately to mind.


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## Chronochromie

I'll add Borodin's 2nd, Sibelius' Voces Intimae and also Fauré's in E minor, if it can be called Romantic.


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## Mahlerian

Sibelius's is a great one. I'm ashamed that I forgot it.


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## Art Rock

Not yet mentioned: obviously, the other Dvorak quartets, but also the two Bruch quartets.


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## elgar's ghost

I suggest the three by Erich Korngold. They were composed between 1920 and 1945 but lie firmly within the late-romantic tradition.


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## Orfeo

*Tchaikovsky* definitely (as Mahlerian mentioned). I'll also recommend:


*Glazunov*: esp. his First, Third, Fifth, Suite for Quartet, Five Novelettes.
*Taneyev*.
*Sir Arnold Bax*: late romantic/early modern.
*Moeran*.
*Borodin's* two (not just the more famous Second, but also the more enthralling First).
*Myaskovsky*: sort of pushing it, but the idiom in general is late romantic (like Bax).
*Nielsen*: well worth a try.
*Arensky.*
*Kabalevsky's *First.
*Karl Goldmark*.
*Stenhammar*.
*Atterberg*.
*Franck*.
*Faure*.


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## TurnaboutVox

I agree with most of the recommendations aforementioned.

You might like to try the quartets by Elgar, Delius, Franck, Fauré, Koechlin's first, Bridge's 1st and maybe 2nd if you're willing to go with some post-romantic impressionism; then perhaps Debussy's sole string quartet which is ravishingly beautiful and sounds to me more 'conventional' and less revolutionary and modernist than much of his output.

Perhaps you could also try Zemlinsky's first as well, Webern's Langsamer Satz and his early String Quartet of 1905?


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## musicrom

A lot of good suggestions have already been made. I'll stick to stuff that hasn't been mentioned yet.

- Grieg's String Quartet No. 1 in G minor
- A more obscure one, Alfred Hill's 3rd, "The Carnival"

A couple that might not fit your criteria, but I'd still recommend:
- Prokofiev's 1st String Quartet
- Max Reger's set of quartets

If you're thinking of exploring the string quartet further, I can direct you to TC's list of recommended quartets.


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## Truckload

Thanks for all of the recommendations. I would usually associate Brahms as more of a mid-romantic kind of guy, and I know his quartets of course. And I know the Tchaikovsky 1st, but it has been years since I listened to the other two. I will do so. I have always loved the Dvorak "American" quartet, and in fact all of Dvorak's quartets are surprisingly good. Just hoping to hit on something not previously known to me from the late romantic era. 

For example, I had never heard the Grieg quartets, and listening to one right now. Awesome! Also I don't think I ever tried any Sibelius quartet, but will now do so.

Lots of interesting recommendations to try. Thank you all. It is the joy of discovering something beautiful and "new to me" that keeps the love for classical music always fresh in my heart.


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## TurnaboutVox

The other work I was going to mention but forgot to, was Bruckner's (viola) string quintet, a fine work.


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## SeptimalTritone

Mahlerian said:


> Brahms, *Schoenberg's First* (and the earlier D major), and Tchaikovsky come immediately to mind.


That piece could possibly be the greatest thing ever. It's a pinnacle of late romanticism.


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## Headphone Hermit

Truckload said:


> and in fact all of Dvorak's quartets are *surprisingly* good.


surprisingly??? What is surprising about Dvorak composing 'good' music?


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## Blancrocher

A couple very good late Romantic composers for string quartet who haven't been mentioned are Bedřich Smetana and Hugo Wolf. Among my very favorite string quartets are those of Leoš Janáček, who was strongly influenced by Dvorak.


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## Truckload

Headphone Hermit said:


> surprisingly??? What is surprising about Dvorak composing 'good' music?


Sorry, I meant no disrespect to Dvorak. Simply that Dvorak is best known for his orchestral music, yet his string quartets are of extremely high quality, and he wrote 14 of them.


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## Headphone Hermit

^^^

Ah, yes. he wrote heaps of good music in a wide variety of genres - it is a shame if people only see him as the composer of the 'New World' symphony.
As well as the symphonies, concerti, symphonic poems and other orchestral works, he wrote lots of good chamber music, some really nice choral music, loads of good songs and some very appealing (but overlooked) operas, including a real gem in _Rusalka_ and quite a lot of piano music (including transcriptions of his many works).

Taruskin (Taruskin, Richard, 2010, Music in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford: Oxford University Press) claimed he was the most versatile composer of his time.


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## Cosmos

I'm glad this thread exists, because I'm very ignorant of the late Romantic string quartet repertoire.

Tchaikovsky's was mentioned, but I will hone in on his 2nd, in F major. It's a grand work, may as well be a transcribed symphony!


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## starthrower

I heard one on the radio by Verdi the other week. Not bad!


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## TurnaboutVox

The Lieder specialist Hugo Wolf also wrote works for string quartet. The String Quartet in D minor and the Intermezzo for string quartet in E flat major are early works, but have been recorded. The Italian Serenade in G major is very brief, but is better known. They are interesting, I think.


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## Mal

Art Rock said:


> Not yet mentioned: obviously, the other Dvorak quartets, but also the two Bruch quartets.


Not all the other ones  Choose carefully, try 9, 13,14 (Pavel Hass Quartet).

Tchaikovsky String Quartet 1 & 2 (Gabrielli/Borodin Quartet)

Brahms 3 (Borodin quartet)

... then try some modernists!


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## tortkis

Blancrocher said:


> A couple very good late Romantic composers for string quartet who haven't been mentioned are Bedřich Smetana and Hugo Wolf. Among my very favorite string quartets are those of Leoš Janáček, who was strongly influenced by Dvorak.


Janáček's string quartets are superb. Smetana's quartets are also very nice. I think Czech composers's music is generally very tuneful and melodic.

Another Czech composer whose string quartets I like a lot is Zdeněk Fibich (1850-1900).

Fibich: String quartet No. 1 in A major


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## waldvogel

Samuel Barber's String Quartet in B minor was written in 1936, but it is definitely in the Romantic tradition. And like Tchaikovsky's first String Quartet, one of the movements has taken on a life of its own...


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## Avey

Piggy-backing of the *Korngold *mention, *Hindemith's *early quartets have a similar late-Romanticism to their sound. So, too, do *Nielsen's* -- and wait, as *Debussy *was mentioned, *Ravel *is an obvious name w/r/t the string quartet in that late Romantic era.

Seems like you could so easily start listing names that someone to my left may label "modern" and someone to my right keep as a "late Romantic." Whatever. An absurd amount of wonderful music in the quartet form between (roughly) (guesstimating) 1860-1910.


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