String Quartets - A Most Intimate Medium

It has often been said that string quartets represent a composer's most intimate and personal works, a statement with which I wholeheartedly agree. After listening to string quartets for over 25 years, I have come to believe this humble assembly of two violins, viola and cello somehow manages to express the whole range of human emotional experiences. This Second Edition of the book contains discussions of 360 string quartets by 240 composers, from 1800 through to the present day. It is written for the general or novice string quartet listener and is not an academic treatise - this specialised type of information can be found in a limited format elsewhere. The approach to the quartets is non-technical - they are described as they unfold, and the discussions are mostly concerned with the chronological structure and emotional feeling of the works. There are also references to similar sounding quartets, and influences from other composers, when appropriate. Some musical terms are used and these are defined in a Glossary but I am sure that most readers, even novices, would quickly become familiar with the basic musical vocabulary used in the book. The Glossary is available as a PDF from my website. Most of the popular string quartet repertoire is covered here, but there is also a host of lesser known composers discussed. For those only just embarking on this journey, you will find many wonderful string quartets available by these composers. Sadly, many of them are not frequently recorded, but all of the works covered are available at time of writing. There is much fine music to be found here. Each review comes with information on current availability, mostly via Amazon US and UK. There are also references to internet sites where the works may be heard. These include chamber music blog, earsense, the best organised chamber music site going around, together with Spotify and YouTube. This Second Edition contains assorted images of CDs, string quartet ensembles and classic composers. While it can be read from cover to cover, the book is more designed as a source of information reflecting the depth of the string quartet repertoire. My hope is that readers might find themselves listening to composers who are entirely new to them. While the writing style is personal, almost conversational, it is my ambition to create a useful resource that would enable readers to enter and explore the wonderful world of string quartets.