Post-Beethoven String Quartets

[sonnyhill]

Besides Bartok and Shostakovich, could someone provide me with suggestions of worthwhile string quartets that a classical novice should listen to? Thanks.

[Rooster_Ties]

Alban Berg's two major works for String Quartet -- the Op. 3 quartet (which is unnumbered), and the "Lyric Suite" (a.k.a. "Lyrische Suite") are both monsters!!! :rsmile:

They're often coupled on the same disc -- get 'em both, if you can.

I can reccomend specific recordings at some later point in the thread - I'm at work at the moment, unable to check the recordings I have at home.

[Guy Berger]

Janacek's are excellent, especially #2 "Intimate Letters".

People frequently recommend Debussy's quartet, but I like his other chamber music better. On the other hand, I like Ravel's quartet quite a bit.

Schubert's last three quartets are contemporary with Beethoven's last quartets. "Death and the Maiden" is my favorite. However, I personally prefer Beethoven's.

Guy

[Guest youmustbe]

Micheal Tippett's, Benjamin Britten's, Kevin Volans'...all Brits...great stuff...20th Century!

[Chuck Nessa]

Clem covered most of it. I have a soft spot for Simpson.

[Spontooneous]

Yep, Clem nailed it.

Soft spot for Schubert's last one, Schoenberg 2 and 4, Webern and the higher-numbered Holmboe quartets here.

[David Ayers]

Clem got it with his scattergun, I think. I'd underline the Schoenberg, stress the Carter, query the need for all Dvorak, maintain doubts about Smetana, couldn't care less about Scandinavian music, suggest Kocian Quartet in Hindemith, throw in (not for beginner) my new favorites the Rihm quartets. The Maggini Quartet on Naxos are well worth following in all the British repertoire, first and second rate, and I'd pick out their disk of Vaughan Williams as the very best, alongside the Britten and Bridge. But don't take my word for it.

Edited to add: the Peter Maxwell Davies quartet series for Naxos (ongoing) is well worth following - serious, accessible, beautifully played by the Maggini Quartet.

Edited December 14, 2006 by David Ayers

[Ron S]

* you should always always always go back to HAYDN too

Excellent advice. If he didn't actually invent the form, Haydn sure came close to it, and his voluminous repertoire is a constant joy. Mozart's later string quartets (and quintets, for that matter) should also not be missed. (I guess I'm a bit stuck in the classical period. ) And another for Schubert's later quartets--I've got the dramatic opening to "Death and the Maiden" stuck in my head now, thanks to this thread.

[Chuck Nessa]

Fans of the Bartok quartets could do worse than investigating the work of Elizabeth Maconchy. I have her first 8 quartets.

[clifford_thornton]

It has been a bit, but I remember liking the Lutoslawski a lot. For some time, it was hard for me to appreciate SQ's, until my friend suggested that it was like a classical version of a working band. That helped, even in my naivete.

[BruceH]

* you should always always always go back to HAYDN too

Excellent advice. If he didn't actually invent the form, Haydn sure came close to it, and his voluminous repertoire is a constant joy.

That's a big YES!

[David Ayers]

couldn't care less about Scandinavian music

excusez-moi?! i don't like black composers or white jazzmen either, that's how nutty a claim that is. you hate Grieg AND Sibelius, Tveitt AND Aho, Nielsen (greatest 20th c. symphonist) AND Leifs, Berwald AMD Svendsen?

Oh I try to care - I just don't. I'm not sure that indifference to Grieg constitutes any kind of hate crime though.

[Chuck Nessa]

txxx for Maconchy sugg, Chuck-- was that that woman who had a 2-cd set on Chandos 8-9 years ago? (doing from memory to see if i still got it.) remember sampling that at a store, digging but just not picking it up if so. definitely props to Simpson as well.

c

Don't know about Chandos. You are probably thinking of Unicorn. They had a 2 disc set of 1-8 and a single of 9-13. At the time I felt she dropped off at the end of her career and never bothered to get the late quartets disc. I see all 3 discs are reissued in an inexpensive set on Regis. It's available from Berkshire for $12.

More props for Smetana.

Edited December 15, 2006 by Chuck Nessa

[Peter Friedman]

I have string quartet recordings by many post-Beethoven composers not yet mentioned.

Arensky

Bridge

Bruch

Chadwick

Dohnanyi

Gade

Glinka

Goldmark

Gounod

Grechaninov

Holter

Horneman

Humperdinck

d'Indy

Lalo

Lekeu

Magnard

Moeran

Norman

Novak

Rheinberger

Rubinstein

Schmidt

Stenhammar

Taneyev

Verdi

Volkmann