12 great string quartets????

[DavidRoss]

I ought to have been clear in my OP.  But I think it's great that people should make their choices based on whatever criterion they like, but it would be nice too if they stated that criterion.

Are "lengthy, big work with lot's of substance" necessary to greatness?  Is Beethoven's Op.95 too short and/or too lacking in substance, (just wondering)?

No.

[abidoful]

I ought to have been clear in my OP.  But I think it's great that people should make their choices based on whatever criterion they like, but it would be nice too if they stated that criterion.

Are "lengthy, big work with lot's of substance" necessary to greatness?  Is Beethoven's Op.95 too short and/or too lacking in substance, (just wondering)?

I'd say yes--as I did

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Yah, I know those things about Voces intimae, I am Finn also Yes, nickname was wrong term, since Sibelius even had written "Voces intimae!" above those three quiet notes in his 3rd movement. And yes, technically Voces Intimae is his first and only mature string quartet, and second with opus number, but I appreciate earlier A minor and E flat major quartets so much that it would seem somewhat rude IMO to not include them, after all, he composed them in his youth yet they show tremendous amount of skill.

And yeah, my pickups were mostly from the 19th century: I am kind of Romantic era fag. I was about to mention some of Haydn's quartets but I guess didn't have enough room. Have to go out finding some new string quartets.

// Täytyykin tutustua mahdollisimman pian tuohon kvartettoon! Ja on kyllä kieltämättä mahdollista että Sibelius halveksui suurta osaa nuoruudenteoksistaan, ja vaikka levytyksiä tehtiin jo Sibeliuksen elinaikana, olisi ollut hupaisaa nähdä mestarin reaktio siihen kuinka helppoa tavallisen pulliaisen on nykyaikana kuunnella Sibeliusta vaikka mp3:lta. Joo, onhan tuo kieltämättä vähän harhaanjohtavaa mutta meikällä on päähänpinttymä laskea nuoruuden yiritelmät myös. 

[MishaK]

This might be of interest here... the German shop zweitausendeins had DG put together for them exclusively a 5CD set of the most important string quartets and they sell it for dirt cheap EUR 19. It's not available anywhere else. There's 13 quartets on it, so perfect for this thread. You get a baker's dozen. 



http://www.zweitausendeins.de/suche/?ArticleFocus=22&ord=-1&alpha=1&cat=all&q=streichquartette

I always make a trip to one of their stores when I'm in Germany, but have never ordered anything to be shipped to the US or anything, so I don't know how their service is on that front. At any rate, given the DG catalog, this is as fine a starter set as any:

Haydn Op. 64 Nr. 5 "Lark" - Hagen Quartet

Mozart KV 465 "dissonances" - Emerson Quartet

Beethoven Op. 74 - Melos Quartet

Mozart "Hunt" - Amadeus Quartet

Mendelssohn  Eb Major - Emerson Quartet

Haydn "Emperor" - Melos Quartet

Beethoven Op.135 - Lasalle Quartet

Dvorak "American" - Prague String Quartet

Smetana "From my Life" - Amadeus Quartet

Schubert "Death and the Maiden" - Amadeus Quartet

Schumann Op. 41, No. 3 - Melos Quartett

Schubert "Rosamunde" op.28 - Hagen Quartet

Brahms op.51-2 - Tokyo String Quartet

[abidoful]

Yah, I know those things about Voces intimae, I am Finn also Yes, nickname was wrong term, since Sibelius even had written "Voces intimae!" above those three quiet notes in his 3rd movement. And yes, technically Voces Intimae is his first and only mature string quartet, and second with opus number, but I appreciate earlier A minor and E flat major quartets so much that it would seem somewhat rude IMO to not include them, after all, he composed them in his youth yet they show tremendous amount of skill.

And yeah, my pickups were mostly from the 19th century: I am kind of Romantic era fag. I was about to mention some of Haydn's quartets but I guess didn't have enough room. Have to go out finding some new string quartets.

Hyvää iltaa maanmies! I guess the numbering thing is sort of a minor issue, but it's just not right Think of it; its reasonably safe to say that Sibelius quite probably would have been horrified, if he'd seen a recording of his "String Quartet nr1 in E-flat" or "String Quartets 1-4" . IMO it's just more "elegant"-while acknowledging he did write four quartet's- leaving the numbering out. Otherwise it is sort of misleading- in a way. To Sibelius, and to the public.

Tunnetko muuten Väinö Raition Jousikvarteton? Aika komea teos, vähän franckilainen ja myös Grieg aika selvästi ollut "sylikummina". Aika upea hidas osa!

hauskaa että suomalaisiakin täällä!!!!