Delightful Romantic String Quartets

[Peter1953]

If you like this genre, you can find many of such works. For example, Robert Volkmann composed six of them. All are performed by the Mannheimer Streichquartett and released on 3 cpo CD's in 1998 (now at jpc available for EUR 5.99 per CD only), see here. Personally I think these works belong to Volkmann's most wonderful music. Very warm, intimate, full of memorable tunes, a lot of heartfelt passages, enough depth, in short: Romantic chamber music at his very best. Warmly recommended!

BTW, Raff's wonderful Nos. 6&7 are even cheaper, see here.

Which string quartets do you like and recommend?

[BFerrell]

Erkki Melartin's four. Arthur Foote.

[erato]

Is Melartin's quartets only available in Fuga's own webstore in Finland, or di they export? I e-mailed them once concerning this set, but never received an answer.

[BFerrell]

They ship overseas. Go ahead and order it first and they will contact you later via email for billing details. I use a Visa and the items arrive very quickly. I think the two CD set is well worth it.

[ahinton]

Even among unsung ones there are just far too many to even being to create a meaningful list but, off the cuff, there's Pergament's - and, to the extent that "unsung" means rarely performed in public, Schönberg's D minor quartet might well qualify, especially as it's one of the finest quartets since Beethoven. Van Dieren's six are well worth looking into but very hard to get hold of.

[chill319]

The six Stenhammar quartets are keepers, every one. Four decades ago, I couldn't understand the neglect of quartets by Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms. Today I feel the same way about the Stenhammar.