CD of the Month for October, 2015: Johannes Brahms:
- String Quartets Nos. 1 & 3.
The Artemis Quartet combines Brahms’ intense first quartet with his lighter-spirited third quartet, both works that the Artemis’ cellist, Eckart Runge, describes as “remarkable and multi-faceted”.
He says that “Brahms marries a Romantic spirit with the structure and forms of Classicism. There is an almost symphonic approach in the writing, but at the same time the quartets are imbued with a sense of warmth, immediacy, friendship and love that is interwoven with a more spiritual, timeless beauty”.
Specifically, we hear the following: Brahms:
- String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1
- String Quartet No. 3 in B flat major, Op. 67
Performed by the Artemis Quartet, as the CD of the Month for October, 2015.
Ever aware of the shadow of Beethoven, Brahms was 40 years old by the time he completed the first of his three published string quartets in 1873; he is thought to have destroyed the 20 quartets that he had written previously.
The third quartet followed in 1875, the year before the premiere of the composer’s Symphony No 1, and a decade after the publication of his piano quintet, which the Artemis Quartet has recorded with Leif Ove Andsnes.
Here is a brief extract of Brahms’ quartet music: Artemis plays Brahms String Quartets:
And here is some more of this music:
