Brahms was very conscious of the tradition behind the string quartet genre, including the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, when composing his own quartets.
Performer Biography
The New Zealand String Quartet, celebrating its 29th season in 2016, has a distinguished international reputation and is recording the complete Brahms string quartets and quintets for Naxos.
Composition History
Brahms dedicated his first two published string quartets, Opus 51, to Theodor Billroth, a distinguished surgeon and musical amateur whom he met in 1866.
Composer Biography
Johannes Brahms, born in Hamburg in 1833, showed such natural aptitude for music that there was talk of him touring as a prodigy at age eleven.
Composition History
Brahms's first string quartet, Op. 51, No. 1, was written between 1868 and 1873, and is contemporary with his String Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2, completed in the same year.
Composer Biography
Robert Schumann, a composer and editor of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, declared Brahms the long-awaited successor to Beethoven.
Composer Biography
Brahms met the Hungarian violinist Ede Reményi in 1851, who introduced him to Hungarian dance music that later influenced his work.
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Bartok: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2
Mendelssohn: Streichquartett No. 1 & 4
Brahms: String Quartet in C Minor, Op. 51
Shostakovich: String Quartet No.8 op.110
Bartók: String Quartet No. 4: V. Allegro molto
Johannes Brahms: String Quartets in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2 & Felix Otto Dessoff: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 7
