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Favorite Classical String Quartets

When I started listening to Classical Music as a teenager over 50 years ago I quickly became seduced by the sounds of a string quartet.  My school library had a Seraphim 3LP set of Beethoven Middle Period Quartets with the Hungarian SQ (this was in stereo; they had recorded them in mono as well).  Op. 59/1, the first of the Razumovsky Quartets, was my seductress:  those long soulful cello lines, with the viola weaving in and out, the violins then sweetly taking over the main themes, and then all the instruments trading places-I was hooked.

 59/3 has a second movement dominated by the cellist who sounds like a jazz walking bass, and that furious fugal finale.  The Harp Quartet in that with its flying pizzicatos was another revelation.

  Beethoven’s late quartets are another thing entirely, and took a few generations for nineteenth century listeners to absorb.  Mozart and Haydn invented the genre and a lot of their best music is in their quartets.

  The aforementioned Classical Period composers are generally thought to have represented the apex of the genre, but I have always been fascinated by Dvorak, Borodin, and Shostakovich, all of whom seemed to luxuriate in the special sonic world of the string quartet.

 

 Other favorites?

  T

mahler123
retiredaudioguy
324 posts
 

@mahler123 reading your post made me realize I have not listened to the Razumovsky quartets in about 20 years! These works were a favorite of my late wife but I think that after her death, perhaps I avoided things with great emotional attachment for her, to avoid a breakdown.

Also I have not listened to the Dvorak quartets in many years, I have the Prager DG set LPs.

I counted up, I have a dozen or so recordings of the Beethoven quartets between LP, CD and flac.  Not all are complete.  The Vegh LPs are played most often.

The Shostakovich quartets are an interesting case,  I have the Fitzwilliam, French, LP set, and listen to the Borodin's performances (streaming). I think back to a discussion with a coworker who was a Jazz fanatic who maintained that classical players were not really musicians because they "just played the notes" - the two interpretations of the Shostakovich could scarcely be more different.

I realize, I cannot expand your list, I get drawn back to the late quartets, and it seems that at least one a week I have to listen to the Heiliger Dankgesang - for me the most emotionally affecting piece in all of music.

Now, if someone could explain the Große Fuge - does anyone have a "must listen" recording of that?  My mind gets lost!

 

 

dmk_calgary
185 posts
 

Good thread. Thank you for posting. I really enjoy the Mozart string quartets he dedicated to Haydn. And the Beethoven string quartets. I am relatively new to classical, so the suggestions are great for a neophyte like me.

Again, thank you.

mahler123 OP
4,100 posts
 

@kirkwallace 

 

you are correct.  Per AI there are relatively few recordings-and then they couldn’t site any-of the Sitkovitsky Quartet arrangement.  After checking the one that I have in my collection is the Catalyst Quartet.

  I have heard the Emerson Quartet, in concert, play the aria and one of the variations, as an encore.  There were definitely 4 people playing, but apparently they haven’t recorded it.

tbh I have very little interest in the Goldbergs as a SQ.  Now the recent 2 guitar recording is another story…

mahler123 OP
4,100 posts
 

@retiredaudioguy 

 

the Heilger Dankesang is one of the most emotional pieces of any kind of music that I know.  I have asked my wife that if I pre deceased her to have it played at my memorial service.  Just not any time soon!

kirkwallace's avatar
kirkwallace
405 posts
 

@mahler123 thank you. I will stop hunting!

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