Your Top 9 String Quartets

[Maciek]

In an attempt to sustain the high level of intelligent discussion on GMG, here's another very valuable and much needed poll. List away!

[not edward]

nom nom nom ...

Bartok 3, 4
Janacek 2
Haydn 77/1
Shostakovich 12, 13
Carter 1
Beethoven 130, 131, 132

[Sergeant Rock]

Schubert #13 A minor D.804

Beethoven #13 B flat op.130

Beethoven #16 F major op.135

Bloch #1

Schönberg #2 op.10

Shostakovich #7 F sharp minor

Schumann #1 A minor

Sibelius D minor "Voces Intimae"

Janáček #2 "Intimate Letters"


Sarge

[not edward]

Schönberg #2 op.10

Oops. Can't possibly have that one not in my list....time to start again!

[Maciek]

and JSB's art of fugue as a SQ is just mindblowing as well.

Any particular recording(s) you would favor?

[Sergeant Rock]

Oops. Can't possibly have that one not in my list....time to start again!

Yep, that one has to be on everyone's list.

Sarge

[O Delvig]

Beethoven op 132, and 130 (with fugue finale)
Mozart K590 (doesn't get the credit it deserves it seems)
Bartok #3 & 4
Shostakovich # 7,12,13
Schnittke #2


Is that 9? What an arbitrary number! I could go on & on, the string quartet is my favorite genre.

[Maciek]

Is that 9? What an arbitrary number!

Arbitrary is the name of the game, my friend.

[PSmith08]

At the risk of limiting myself,

Bartók: nos. 1-6
Ligeti: no. 1-2
Webern: Op. 5, "Five movements for string quartet"
-----------------
There, that's nine, right? ( )

[hornteacher]

Nine, hmm.  Well Beethoven wrote 16 so just pick any nine of those and you've got my list.

[S709]

Pēteris Vasks: 4th Quartet. A long, turbulent work. The final movement 'Meditation' is incredibly moving, transcendent!
Gloria Coates: 5th Quartet. Totally unique and otherworldly.
Dmitri Shostakovich: 15th Quartet. Painfully sad but extremely beautiful.
Philip Glass: 5th Quartet. An abundance of great themes, especially in the conclusion.
Ben Johnston: 4th Quartet "Amazing Grace". A gorgeous microtonal quartet built around the famous hymn.
Franz Joseph Haydn: Op. 76, No. 1. I listen to this one the most out of Op. 76, it is addictive! Adore the 3rd movement.
Alfred Schnittke: 2nd Quartet. Dark, violent and very powerful work.
Helmut Lachenmann: 3rd Quartet "Grido". One of the most unusual quartets out there, totally engaging and a 'sonic delight'. The extreme and varied sonorities Lachenmann creates with 'just' a string quartet is astonishing. A fascinating journey.
Iannis Xenakis: Tetras, for string quartet. Another weird quartet, but irresistibly so.

... another odd list, and of course a ton of omitted favorites!

[Lilas Pastia]

I'll just list great works by lesser known composers, regardless of the number.

Many have touted the merits of Villa-Lobos' magnificent corpus (17 SQ), and with good reason.

I highly recommend these other sets of quartets:

- Johann Martin Kraus (at least 6, I know 4 of them). Real gems. His dates are almost the same as Mozart's. His quartets are early works.
- Luigi Cherubini (6). These are surprisingly intense and intelligent works, certainly on a par with if not better than, Beethoven's Op. 18. Extraordinarily melodious.
- Tippett (5). Healthy and appealing stuff.
- Karl-Erik Welin (he composed 9, only 4 are recorded). Strange music, unlike any other I know. Keeps me riveted every time.
- Daniel Jones (8 ) - a real find. Very challenging works, but always within a totally approachable idiom.
- Raymond Murray Schafer  (8 ) - by far the most 'modern' of those listed, they're really fascinating in the far reaches of tonal possibilities they uncover.

Although I know a little bit of Simpson's and Holmboe's works, I can't make a judgment on the whole lot. There's still so much out there.

My favourites include the Ravel, Dvorak op. 105, Schumann op. 41# 1, DSCH 15, Bartok 6, and the rest is from Haydn (Op. 76#2), Mozart (K. 421 and 428 ) and Beethoven (op. 132). These nine.

[quintett op.57]

Haydn op.76 n°2
Shostakovich n°8
Schnittke n°3
Beethoven n°14
Schnittke n°2
Smetana n°2
Beethoven n°7
Haydn op.54 n°3
Smetana n°1

They're my favourite 9 but I'm not so sure about the order.
Actually no, It lacks Schubert 14 and Shosta's 3

[val]

HAYDN opus 54/2, 77/2

BEETHOVEN: opus 59/1 and 2, 127, 130, 131, 132

SCHUBERT: Quartet 15 in G major

BARTOK: 5th Quartet

[Florestan]

Off the trodden path:

Juan Crisostomo Arriaga Nos. 1-3
Robert Volkmann Nos. 1-6
Robert Schumann Nos. 1-3
Jean Sibelius Nos. 1-4
Edvard Grieg Nos. 1-2

[bhodges]

Gubaidulina: No. 3
Gubaidulina: No. 2
Schnittke: No. 2
Ligeti: No. 2
Bartók: No. 4 (or just pick any of them)
Scelsi: No. 5
Walton: No. 2
Shostakovich: No. 15 (again, virtually any one will do)
Xenakis: Tetras

Since it includes three of the above, the Arditti recording below is probably my favorite string quartet CD.

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

Maciek, you are an accommodating soul!

[Maciek]

 

[Joe Barron]

Wow, top nine. To do this poll corectly, I'd really have to think hard.  So, here, without thinking at all, is the list of quartets than come to mind immediately as favorites.

Ives No. 2
Carter Nos. 2 and 3
Brahms No. 3
Beethoven A minor, Op. 131
Dvorak "Amercan"
Berg Lyric Suite
Piston No. 5

Haydn complete quartet oeuvre counts as No. 9

Odd, Bartok didn't come to mind. I guess I don't listen to his quartets very frequently. I'll have to go back and explore them. His and Schubert's.

[carlos]

Borodin first and second
Taneyev first and second
Glazunov third and fifth
Franck
Faure
Tchaikovsky third