Talking about string quartets

[aeolium]

As for Mozart,gotta be K387,
Perfect.

K465, K421, K387 - if we carry on, we'll get all the mature Mozart quartets (Haydn seems to have thought they were pretty good, too). K499 is my favourite and coincidentally there is a Gresham college lecture on this quartet, and links to other lectures on other quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven here:

http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/wolfgang-amadé-mozart-k-499-in-d-major

[Richard Barrett]

... and Dillon, Schönberg and Schubert.

But is the medium the "heart and soul" of their music as EdgeleyRob said about Beethoven? In Schoenberg's case maybe. In the cases of Dillon, Schubert, Zemlinsky, Harvey, Holliger, Kagel, Ligeti, Finnissy, Feldman, Tippett, Radulescu surely not to the same extent though all of them wrote at least one standout piece in the genre. (I don't mention Carter because, well, I'm sure his quartets are very good but I really can't stand the sound of them. )

[EdgeleyRob]

Good question - and I'm so pleased that you've mentioned Mendelssohn Op. 80 because although his earlier five quarets are nothing if not attractive anc craftsmanlike this final one, notwithstanding its rather obvious debt to Beethoven Op. 95, is truly stunning.

Of all those mentioned who have well over a dozen quartets to each of their respective names, Weinberg rises to the top of those examples that have only relatively recently begun to draw the appreciation that they so richly deserve.

Most certainly !

[ahinton]

But is the medium the "heart and soul" of their music as EdgeleyRob said about Beethoven? In Schoenberg's case maybe. In the cases of Dillon, Schubert, Zemlinsky, Harvey, Holliger, Kagel, Ligeti, Finnissy, Feldman, Tippett, Radulescu surely not to the same extent though all of them wrote at least one standout piece in the genre. (I don't mention Carter because, well, I'm sure his quartets are very good but I really can't stand the sound of them. )

That's interesting! Why's that (just out of curiosity)? I ask this especially because of the substantial differences between all of them. I admit to being unable to stand the sound of the third one and, having listened to it more then fifty times since not long after it first came out, I confess that I actually feel as though I know less about it than I did after I'd first heard it (my favourites are the first and last, FWIW). And, if you can be bothered, could you identify (again, just to satify genuine curiosity - and not just mine, I'm sure), which quartet from each of composer on your list do you regard as his "standout piece in the genre"?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But is the medium the "heart and soul" of their music as EdgeleyRob said about Beethoven? In Schoenberg's case maybe. In the cases of Dillon, Schubert, Zemlinsky, Harvey, Holliger, Kagel, Ligeti, Finnissy, Feldman, Tippett, Radulescu surely not to the same extent though all of them wrote at least one standout piece in the genre. (I don't mention Carter because, well, I'm sure his quartets are very good but I really can't stand the sound of them. )

Well, I would say that Dillon's six (so far) 4tets stand in the same realtionship to, say, the Nine Rivers pieces as Beethoven's do to,say the Missa Solemnis or Bartok's to his orchestral works - and I think that Schubert's last Quartets are as essential to an understanding of this composer as the last Piano Sonatas or the Winterreise (and more so than the last C major Symphony). But I take (and agree with) your point about Feldman, Finnissy etc.

[ahinton]

think that Schubert's last Quartets are as essential to an understanding of this composer as the last Piano Sonatas or the Winterreise (and more so than the last C major Symphony).

I am unable to agree - not because I disagree as such but because I'm still waiting for those last piano sonatas and even parts of Winterreise, as well as some things in those last quartets themselves, to grab hold of me as have so many of the quartets of most of the other composers already mentioned, although I have little doubt that this, of course, is my fault, not Schubert's...

[hedgehog]

Berg's Lyric Suite is pretty special too. ( On the same subject of "Intimate Letters", so too Janacek!)

[Pianoman]

Well, I would say that Dillon's six (so far) 4tets

For anyone interested, according to the latest HCMF brochure, the Ardittis are playing all 7 of Dillon's quartets in 2 sessions, Sunday 30 - there will, of course, be an interval (and one ticket covers both sessions...)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

For anyone interested, according to the latest HCMF brochure, the Ardittis are playing all 7 of Dillon's quartets in 2 sessions, Sunday 30 - there will, of course, be an interval (and one ticket covers both sessions...)

"Well done, Wilson; I wondered who'd be the first to spot that."

[gradus]

Schumann 3 is the quartet that I listen to most often. I keep the Zehetmair recording of 1 and 3 in the car as they most often reflect/complement how I feel. Occasionally Beethoven too but rarely Mozart but I am susceptible to chamber music and listen to anything by anyone that happens to be broadcast.

[antongould]

So many string quartets,so little time.
................
Although a lot of great quartets were written between Beethoven Op 135 and the great cycles of the 20th century, is it fair to say none of these reached the same great heights,except for maybe Schubert D887 and Mendelssohn Op 80 ?

IMVVHO no.

[Pianoman]

"Well done, Wilson; I wondered who'd be the first to spot that."

Well, you see how we hang on your every wise word !

[verismissimo]

But is the medium the "heart and soul" of their music as EdgeleyRob said about Beethoven?...

Surely...
In the case of Mozart, it's his piano concertos and operas
... Schubert, it's his songs
... Janacek, it's his operas

And I'm equally unsure that SQs are the "heart and soul" of Berg, Mendelssohn, Schoenberg,...

I might however nominate Webern.

[Richard Barrett]

"Well done, Wilson; I wondered who'd be the first to spot that."

SEVEN? I was thinking there were four or so.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

SEVEN? I was thinking there were four or so.

http://hcmf.co.uk/event/show/418

http://hcmf.co.uk/event/show/419