String Quartet Complete

This monumental release documents the Emerson String Quartets exceptional longevity and dynamism founded in 1976, they are still as youthfully active and inquisitive as ever 40 years later. Moreover it charts the New York-based ensembles musical breadth, encompassing virtually all of the important repertoire for their formation.
This 52 CD collection includes their complete output on DG and features highlights such as the Nine Grammy Awards, Three Gramophone Magazine Awards; complete cycles by Shostakovich, Beethoven and Bartok; plus String Quartets by Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Schubert and many more.

Newcomer to the Timpani label, the Debussy Quartet is certainly one of the finest quartets on the current French musical scene. With 20 years experience and recipient of many international awards they proudly bring the chamber works of Guillaume Lekeu to life. Whereas his violin sonata is almost universally known, the music lover will discover the magnificent work of the quartets, filled with a profound, autumnal melancholy.

The staying power of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s string quartets rivals that of his symphonies. His quartets are deeply personal works – intensely autobiographical, confessional, intimate, intensely emotional – and among the most insightful works in the quartet repertoire.

This limited edition for the Haydn Bi-Centenary is a bargin price reissue of renowned Aeolian Quartet recordings from the 1970's. They are brilliantly played the late analogue sound has been well remastered by Decca. It is strange there are so few complete recordings of these quartets as the music is quite superb. From the early 'divertimento' type pieces through to the profound later works there is never a dull moment.

he Miró Quartet, generally considered as one of the most established US classical ensembles, makes its PENTATONE debut with a complete recording of the Beethoven string quartets. Beethoven’s quartets truly stand at the centre of the repertoire, and present the summit for any quartet. Listening to Beethoven’s entire string quartet oeuvre – from the early op. 18 volume and Rasumovsky quartets to the otherworldly and modern-sounding pieces written during his final years – is a life-changing experience, and so is performing them integrally. This collection offers the results of 15 years of playing and recording Beethoven, and not only anticipates the 2020 commemoration of the composer’s 250thbirthday, but also the 25th anniversary of the Miró Quartet itself.

This is a very complete set indeed. It includes all the quartets in the latest edition prepared by Jonathan Del Mar which restores many important markings by Beethoven and which has been done in collaboration with the Endellion Quartet. Both versions of the first quartet or included as well as Beethoven's quartet arrangement of the piano sonata Op. 14 no. 1. the Gross Fuge, both string quintets plus other works for string quartet including the two prelude and fugues.

This is the first ever release of the Juilliard String Quartet’s complete EPIC recordings from 1956 to 1966 in a single 11-CD edition. The set includes four LP recordings appearing for the first time on CD and eight CDs remastered from the original analogue tapes. The Quartet’s legacy is evident in their accumulated reviews for their outstanding recordings. On Mozart’s six “Haydn” Quartets, a Gramophone reviewer stated that they were “the best performances [they] have ever heard”. Although the Quartet have excelled in their interpretations of 18th- and 19th-century repertoire, their original purpose was to promote 20th-century music. Thus, it is unsurprising that the first album in this box set features a special recording of lesser-known works by American composers Benjamin Lees and William Denny.