GMG Classical Music Forum

A cycle being arbitrarily defined as 4 or more quartets here (and, obviously, only works for 2 violins, viola and cello). I think the options should cover most of the well known ones. Choose your top five.

Intentionally excluded - Nielsen, Taneyev, Stenhammar - all belonging more to the 19th century.

I chose Bartok, Martinu, Shostakovich, Schnittke, and Villa-Lobos.

Bartok, Schoenberg, Shostakovich are the obvious top three... and then I also like Schnittke.

Britten, Glass, Nyman, Johnston and Other. The other being Berg, because Lyric Suite is one of the best chamber works of the 20th Century, had to honor it here.

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on April 05, 2014, 05:47:12 PM
The other being Berg, because Lyric Suite is one of the best chamber works of the 20th Century, had to honor it here.

Yes, great work. For me the highlight of the piece is the last movement largo desolato. Such a haunting, frozen, directionless portrait of the bleakest landscape there is. But despite this (or because of this!) there isn't a single moment which doesn't make your spine tingle. Mesmerizing. 
   

 Other: van Dieren.

I haven't heard any of van Dieren's quartets, though I do have scores for several of them. Are there recordings available?

Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on April 05, 2014, 09:47:03 PM
Yes, great work. For me the highlight of the piece is the last movement largo desolato. Such a haunting, frozen, directionless portrait of the bleakest landscape there is. But despite this (or because of this!) there isn't a single moment which doesn't make your spine tingle. Mesmerizing.

I really need to revisit the Lyric Suite now. You've certainly peaked my interest again, DD.

Bartok, Carter, Myaskovsky, Simpson and:

other: Toch


PS: The above choices partially because I did not see Shostakovich. But hey, he does not need my vote anyway.

I'm surprised that Schoenberg and Villa-Lobos have as many votes.  One wrote some of the finest string quartets ever written showing a range of styles from late Romantic to atonal, and the other composer wrote decent quartets that are worth a listen now and then.  And yet somehow they are equally popular.

Bartok, DSCH, Martinu, Schulhoff (including his study quartet and the Five Pieces), and probably Villa-Lobos using the four quartet criteria.  Janacek certainly rates among my favorites though he only wrote two.

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 06, 2014, 07:05:25 AM
I really need to revisit the Lyric Suite now. You've certainly peaked my interest again, DD.

Yeah, it's a great work, MI. The Arditti version is the one I prefer:




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Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on April 06, 2014, 09:17:45 AM
Yeah, it's a great work, MI. The Arditti version is the one I prefer:

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Cool, DD. I think I already own quite a few performances of the Lyric Suite, but I'll check that one out. BTW, what do you think of the arrangement Berg made for string orchestra?

I voted for Bartok, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Rochberg, and Simpson.

No surprise that the first two are running away from the pack.

I voted Bartok, Shostakovich, Miaskovsky and Villa-Lobos.

Terry Riley?

Philip Glass?


It's only a poll.

Shostakovich, Schoenberg, Hindemith, Bloch, Zemlinsky


Sarge

I'm not surprised to see any mention of Sculthorpe on this thread. I mean it's not like he's composed 17 of them. :o

Quote from: DavidW on April 06, 2014, 08:39:23 AM
I'm surprised that Schoenberg and Villa-Lobos have as many votes.  One wrote some of the finest string quartets ever written showing a range of styles from late Romantic to atonal, and the other composer wrote decent quartets that are worth a listen now and then.  And yet somehow they are equally popular.

I'm surprised that Villa-Lobos has so many more votes than e.g. Tippett or Milhaud. I don't know his quartets well though.

Schoenberg usually falls victim to atonal crap syndrome.

Quote from: DavidW on April 05, 2014, 05:40:55 PM
Bartok, Schoenberg, Shostakovich are the obvious top three... and then I also like Schnittke.

Great choices. I think Schnittke's are quite underrated.

Quote from: amw on April 06, 2014, 03:22:54 PM
Schoenberg usually falls victim to atonal crap syndrome.

:laugh:

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 06, 2014, 09:49:47 AM
Cool, DD. I think I already own quite a few performances of the Lyric Suite, but I'll check that one out.

The Arditti's rock on all cylinders, here. Although sadly this recording (whether on the original Montaigne label or the reissue on Naïve) is stuck in OOP limbo. I also have the LaSalle version but it's a distant second choice.

QuoteBTW, what do you think of the arrangement Berg made for string orchestra?

I have Abbado's version with the Vienna PO. No doubt he makes as good a case as can be for the orchestral suite but I think the quicksilver nature of the work comes across better in the original string quartet setting. But as an alternative it's a solid listen.

What about Webern? Opp. 5, 9 & 28, and works without opus numbers, e.g. Langsamer Satz, make up for a total of more than four works for string quartet.

Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on April 06, 2014, 06:24:29 PM
The Arditti's rock on all cylinders, here. Although sadly this recording (whether on the original Montaigne label or the reissue on Naïve) is stuck in OOP limbo. I also have the LaSalle version but it's a distant second choice.

I have Abbado's version with the Vienna PO. No doubt he makes as good a case as can be for the orchestral suite but I think the quicksilver nature of the work comes across better in the original string quartet setting. But as an alternative it's a solid listen.

What is wrong with naïve?? They could have so easily included it here:  ::)

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Quote from: North Star on April 06, 2014, 10:28:39 PM
What is wrong with naïve?? They could have so easily included it here:  ::)

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::) ::) Oh, brother. A disc with 28 minutes of music on it. I feel so wowed. Yeah, to think what could've been included.

Budget price or not that's just a farce. >:(

It is nice to see "other" getting a few votes. I think Toch (among others) wrote quartets that deserves to be heard more.

Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on April 07, 2014, 08:23:58 AM
::) ::) Oh, brother. A disc with 28 minutes of music on it. I feel so wowed. Yeah, to think what could've been included.

Budget price or not that's just a farce. >:(

Indeed - they could have included more on a disc when Schönberg was alive, for crying out loud!

Quote from: North Star on April 07, 2014, 09:28:28 AM
Indeed - they could have included more on a disc when Schönberg was alive, for crying out loud!

:D

Quote from: springrite on April 07, 2014, 08:26:07 AM
It is nice to see "other" getting a few votes. I think Toch (among others) wrote quartets that deserves to be heard more.

Thanks for the reminder!

Bloch, Miaskovsky and Rubbra get my vote.

Benjamin Lees (1924-2010) wrote six.  Here's No. 6 (2005)

https://www.youtube.com/v/hPy694OMCEM

Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on April 07, 2014, 08:23:58 AM
::) ::) Oh, brother. A disc with 28 minutes of music on it. I feel so wowed. Yeah, to think what could've been included.

Budget price or not that's just a farce. >:(

What do you expect when the label is naive?

Quote from: sanantonio on April 30, 2014, 06:29:04 PM
Benjamin Lees (1924-2010) wrote six.  Here's No. 6 (2005)

https://www.youtube.com/v/hPy694OMCEM

This was quite good. Thanks!

Since all my favorite cycles were recorded in the 20th century, I went with the Mosaiques Mozart set.  :)

8)

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on May 01, 2014, 10:19:58 AM
Since all my favorite cycles were recorded in the 20th century, I went with the Mosaiques Mozart set.  :)

8)

* Clicks "Report to moderator" *  8)

This is mainly a list of stuff I haven't heard...yet.  :)

I voted Bartok because it's the first cycle I learned decades ago. But I never listen to them any more. Then Shostakovich, Milhaud, Villa-Lobos and other. The latter would have to be either Daniel Jones or R. Murray Schafer.

I have just purchased 3 discs of Hilding's Rosenberg quartets. I know only of his unnumbered 1942 quartet, a gem if you ask me. Then there are the Vainbergs (Weinberg), a composer I love through his symphonies and concertos.

I also like very much the quartets of Tippett, Britten, Carter...

Among those I don't know and would like to: Schoenberg, Bloch and Diamond

Bartok, Carter, Ferneyhough, Schnittke, Shostakovich

Bartók, Carter, Krenek, Milhaud (a recent discovery for me) and Schoenberg...

Quote from: ritter on May 04, 2014, 10:40:11 AM
Bartók, Carter, Krenek, Milhaud (a recent discovery for me) and Schoenberg...

Agree on all of these.  Yes, on Milhaud.  I think the quartets contain his best written music.  Krenek, a fantastic composer - and these works are some of my favorites.  I wish Schoenberg had written more. 

Wolfgang Rihm's quartets are worth hearing.  A lot of variety there.  Lachenmann, too.  There is a fairly recent complete set of his quartets. 

Quote from: James on May 04, 2014, 09:45:20 AM
Ligeti's are great.

In a biography (I've read a few and forgot which one said this), I read that he was planning two more. Apparently the third would have been similar to the first and the fourth would have been similar to the second. I find his chamber music more difficult for me to appreciate than the orchestral works. I really love the 1st SQ, but the 2nd one is a tough nut to crack. I do like the "10 Pieces for Wind Quintet" though, and that is along the lines of the 2nd SQ (whereas "Six Bagatelles" is along the lines of the 1st -- even some common themes between the two, and of course the piano cycle "Musica Ricercata").

Glad to hear you're a Ligeti fan, too!

Quote from: James on May 05, 2014, 02:57:37 AM
Oh yea .. I've liked Ligeti for decades. He's one of the BIG BEASTS of "our time" without a doubt. And the 2nd Quartet is total Ligeti, and contains all of the elements that are distinct and unique to his own musical vocabulary.

The 2nd quartet is definitely total Ligeti! There are some parts that I like, for instance, the 3rd movement ('like a precision mechanism'). And the 5th movement (the way the four members seem to evaporate in the last measure -- very cool!).

A similar piece that is more to my taste is his "Chamber Concerto for 13 Instrumentalists". I'm not a huge fan of string quartets, in general, so that probably explains it.

Quote from: EigenUser on May 04, 2014, 04:38:01 PM
Glad to hear you're a Ligeti fan, too!

James keeps to a small pond.  But in that small pond, he paddles enthusiastically.