Portici Quartet

The later Mikhail Kopelman-led Borodin Quartet recordings of the complete string quartets of Shostakovich aren't so much better than the earlier Valentin Berlinsky-led Borodin Quartet's recordings as they have more than the earlier recording. For one thing, there are two more quartets; the earlier cycle stops with 13 because Shostakovich hadn't gotten any further yet. For another thing, the playing is more emotional; the earlier cycle is violently expressive, but the later cycle has more humanity.

The Artemis Quartet have established one of the richest discographies among modern string quartets. This album highlights great figures of German Romanticism from the earliest Beethoven masterpieces to Schubert's and Schumann's masterworks.

The Smetana Quartet are a true legend. For over four decades (1945-1989), the ensemble gained critical acclaim and enthused audiences all over world, particularly in the UK, USA and Japan. They attained perfect chime and extraordinary flexibility in voice leading, resulting in part from their playing the entire repertoire by heart. The quartet performed Beethoven's works throughout their existence - following Smetana, he was the composer on whose music they focused the most and whose complete quartets were in their repertoire from 1974 onwards.