Anton Rubinstein: String Quartets op. 17,3 and op. 17,2

Featuring

Dietrich Reinhold
Tobias Haupt
Norbert Tunze
Dorothée Erbiner
Reinhold Quartett
Anton Rubinstein

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Composition History

Rubinstein's String Quartets Op. 17 are dedicated to cellist Mathieu Wielhorsky, who helped him secure a position at the court of Grand Duchess Helena Pavlovna after he was arrested as a 'propagandizing political emissary'.

Composer Biography

Rubinstein began composing at age five and gave his first piano concert before he was ten, embarking on a European tour in 1840.

Composition History

Grand Duchess Helena Pavlovna, a patron of the arts, supported Anton Rubinstein in founding the first Russian conservatory in St. Petersburg a decade after his appointment to her court.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Rubinstein pays homage to Joseph Haydn by assigning the opus number 17 to his string quartets, mirroring Haydn's Op. 17, which initiated his significant contributions to the genre.

Critical Reception

Rubinstein's C minor Quartet was hailed as "one of the most interesting works of the present day" by a reviewer for Signale für die musikalische Welt after its Leipzig premiere in 1858.

Performer Biography

The Reinhold Quartet, composed of musicians from the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, was founded in 1996 and has performed over 300 quartet recitals internationally.