12 great string quartets????

Started by Fëanor, October 28, 2007, 10:39:44 AM

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some guy

Ha ha, it's true. And if James has made even one person think, again, of Bluebeard's Castle, then he's done, however inadvertently, a good thing!

By his standard, Janáček must be one of the bigger cop outs of the twentieth century. Janáček wrote a brace of quartets, though, to justify this post! They're fine. Prokofiev's two, too.

But whenever anyone says "string quartet," I think first of all of Lachenmann's Gran Torso.

And then very quickly of the Arditti quartet, who play so much interesting stuff, that one could easily just make a list of any twelve recordings of theirs and you'd have a list of 12 (or more) great string quartets.

I'll still make you a list of my twelve favorites, though. The ones I listen to most frequently.

Lachenmann, Gran Torso
Lachenmann, Reigen seliger Geister
(there's also that Tanzsuite thing for string quartet and orchestra, which is very tasty, and it's on the same CD as Reigen...)
Ruszicka, String quartets 1-4, and Klangschatten for Alfred Schlee
Cage, String quartet in four parts
Cage, Four
Kagel, String quartets 1 and 2 and 3
Gerhard, String quartets 1 and 2 (these are exquisite!)

Hmmm. That's already 14, and I haven't even gotten to the Rihm quartets. Or the Feldman.

Wow. The Feldman.... I've only heard the first one. I have the DVD of the second, but some so-called friends are supposed to come over some evening and listen to it all the way through. (Six hours.) Hmmm. Maybe I just won't wait for 'em. Pikers!


bwv 1080

Carter's other 4 quartets
Wolpe - String Quartet (think more lyrical Carter #2 - great new Naxos recording)
Reger - SQ E flat op 109 (great late romantic, post-Wagnerian SQ)
Webern - Bagatelles for SQ


Larry Rinkel

Quote from: James on October 28, 2007, 12:28:01 PM
He didn't compromise in composition or go down the opera cop out route.

You mean unlike Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Mussorgsky, Debussy, Janacek, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, or Berg?

quintett op.57

#23
Haydn op.54 No.3 (especially for its unusual Largo)
Schumann 2 & 3 are Marvellous
Smetana 1 & 2
Schnittke 3
Schubert 1 (absolutely)
Shostakovich 3
Glass 5
d'Indy 2
Ravel
Mendelssohn op.13

Fëanor

Quote from: bwv 1080 on October 29, 2007, 11:45:07 AM
Carter's other 4 quartets
Wolpe - String Quartet (think more lyrical Carter #2 - great new Naxos recording)
Reger - SQ E flat op 109 (great late romantic, post-Wagnerian SQ)
Webern - Bagatelles for SQ



Thanks for reminding me!  :)  I have Wolpe's String Quartet I and II recorded by the Concord Quartet on VoxBox, along with Cage, Feldman, and others.  I shall listen to them this evening!


c#minor

Ravel's in F Major??? I am stunned it hasn't been mentioned.
Mozart's "The Hunt"

Not quite a quartet but it came on a "string quartets" cd.

Mendelssohn's Octet in E flat Major

PSmith08

Only 12?

You get all of Beethoven's (including op. 133) and all of Bartók's and you're already at 23. I am, ordinarily, not one to define entire genres by a handful of composers, but I would almost say that the literature for the string quartet begins with Beethoven and ends with Bartók. In some of my more aggressively modernist moods, I might say that if you have Bartók's six, then you don't need anything more. If you can't tell, I place a lot of weight on those composers' oeuvres in the genre.

some guy

PSmith, depends on what you're interested in, I guess. Music or or... something else, I can't tell what.

If you're interested in music, well there's a ton, several tons, of very fine string quartets, before Beethoven, between Beethoven and Bartók, and after Bartók.

Truly.




Larry Rinkel

Quote from: PSmith08 on October 29, 2007, 08:09:30 PM
Only 12?

You get all of Beethoven's (including op. 133) and all of Bartók's and you're already at 23. I am, ordinarily, not one to define entire genres by a handful of composers, but I would almost say that the literature for the string quartet begins with Beethoven and ends with Bartók. In some of my more aggressively modernist moods, I might say that if you have Bartók's six, then you don't need anything more. If you can't tell, I place a lot of weight on those composers' oeuvres in the genre.

It's a good thing you "would almost say" rather than actually "say." Haydn, Mozart, and Carter at the very least might almost say there is more to the quartet literature than you are almost saying.

Fëanor

Quote from: c#minor on October 29, 2007, 07:47:31 PM
Ravel's in F Major??? I am stunned it hasn't been mentioned.
Mozart's "The Hunt"

...

Ravel was a very near miss on my list, as was Debussy.  I might have substituted either of these for the Borodin No.2, however the Borodin's melodies won out.

Twelve (12) was obviously an arbitrary number, but I felt, better than 10 or 20.  I chose to include Carter and Alwyn for the sack of variety and modernity over other, very worthy pieces from more-acknowledged composers.

quintett op.57

#30
Quote from: PSmith08 on October 29, 2007, 08:09:30 PM
Only 12?

You get all of Beethoven's (including op. 133) and all of Bartók's and you're already at 23. I am, ordinarily, not one to define entire genres by a handful of composers, but I would almost say that the literature for the string quartet begins with Beethoven and ends with Bartók. In some of my more aggressively modernist moods, I might say that if you have Bartók's six, then you don't need anything more. If you can't tell, I place a lot of weight on those composers' oeuvres in the genre.
Weren't you expecting any reaction from people like me whose top10 include guys like Haydn, Shostakovich & Schnittke?

I advise you beginners to start quickly with the hundreds of great quartets which were composed before Beethoven and after Bartok in order you know how wonderful a genre it would be even if none had been created between 1798 & 1939.

Scriptavolant

I like:
Debussy
Ravel
Martinu No. 4 - Concerto da Camera
Janacek No. 2
Bartok Nos 2, 4 & 6
Beethoven Op. 127, Op. 130
Malipiero No. 2
Grieg No. 1
Schonberg No. 1

There's more, we adjourn.

O Delvig

Bartok's 3,4,5
Gyorgy Kurtag - Officium Breve
Schoenberg's 2nd
Shostakovich - 4,7,13
Schnittke - #2
Mozart K590 (the last Prussian quartet)
Beethoven - op 130 and 132
Carter - 3rd

There you go, 12 plus one bonus!

:)

Haffner

J. Haydn- Opps.20, 50, 76
LvB- opps. 59, 132
Mozart- k387
Debussy- you know
Schoenberg- nos. 2 and 3
Shostakovich- no.7, no.13
Schnittke-  no.4

ChamberNut

My current personal favorite 12 includes many of the usual suspects:

Beethoven - String Quartet No. 13, Op. 130
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131
Schubert - String Quartet No. 13, D. 804 "Rosamunde"
Schubert - String Quartet No. 14, D. 810 "Death and the Maiden"
Brahms - String Quartet No. 1, Op. 51
Schumann - String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41/3
Mozart - String Quartet K.465 "Dissonant"
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 10, Op. 74 "Harp"
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 4, Op. 18
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 12, Op. 127
Bartok - String Quartet No. 4

An honorable mention to Mendelssohn's Octet Op. 20, because I just love it so much, I enjoy it alot more than his string quartets.

And some string quartets that I have recently discovered, and really enjoyed are:

Borodin's String Quartet 1 and 2 (# 1 is really good, but you never hear about it, it's vastly underrated compared to # 2, IMHO.)

Faure's and Chausson's were stunning on first listen!  Marvelous!

Golijov - Tenebrae

Haydn - Seven Last Words of Christ (SQ arrangement).



Valentino

Quote from: Valentino on October 28, 2007, 02:26:15 PM
Many good mentioned here, but

Mozart K. 421 is king!

I shall not mention twelve, but eight, so I add:

Haydn's op. 20 set, and

Dutilleux' "Ansi de la nuit".

That's 8.
9 now.
I've made the aquaintance og Schubert's G-major D. 887.
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Fëanor

Quote from: Valentino on December 07, 2007, 10:00:13 AM
9 now.
I've made the aquaintance og Schubert's G-major D. 887.

Keep 'em coming, Valentino   :)

ChamberNut

I'd also like to mention Schubert's String Quintet (or Cello Quintet, if you like), in C major D. 956

Now, I realize it's not a string quartet, but it is considered by some to be the greatest piece of chamber music ever created.

Well, at least that's what Milton Berger says in the Guide to Chamber Music.

It is wonderful!  I have the Emerson String Quartet w/ Rostropovich on the 2nd cello.  One of my favorite CD's!

71 dB

I don't listen to String Quartets much (I like piano in chamber music => Piano Trios, Piano Quartets and Piano Quintets). Anyway, I really enjoy String Quartets by Beethoven, Dittersdorf, Elgar, Fauré, Mozart, Taneyev and Villa-Lobos.
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Fëanor

Quote from: ChamberNut on December 07, 2007, 11:21:33 AM
I'd also like to mention Schubert's String Quintet (or Cello Quintet, if you like), in C major D. 956

Now, I realize it's not a string quartet, but it is considered by some to be the greatest piece of chamber music ever created.

Well, at least that's what Milton Berger says in the Guide to Chamber Music.

It is wonderful!  I have the Emerson String Quartet w/ Rostropovich on the 2nd cello.  One of my favorite CD's!

Interesting book title;  perchance do you mean Melvin Berger  ??? ...

http://www.amazon.ca/Guide-Chamber-Music-Melvin-Berger/dp/0486418790/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197061068&sr=1-3