This new album of Beethovens late String Quartets by the prestigious Tetzlaff Quartett offers a fitting tribute to Beethovens 250th anniversary year. These monumental works which are given fresh interpretations by the quartet are among the greatest achievements in the history of Western art music written by a composer who had already largely lost contact with the world. When writing his final String Quartets (Op. 127135) Beethoven was quickly becoming increasingly ill and understood that he would never be able to recover fully.

SEON (Studio Erichson) is a period music label by the legendary producer Wolf Erichson. Erichson founded the label in 1969 as one of the first labels dedicated only to authentic music. The recordings were made with the best available recording techniques of the time and still deliver a high quality product in line with today's standards. This special boxset offers all SEON CD reissues from the late 90s on 85 CDs in a limited edition boxset.

This beautifully recorded debut release confirms not only the Rolston String Quartet’s superb technical accomplishment and their impeccably blended sound, but also a maturity of interpretative approach that can only be achieved after long and patient engagement with the music.

This new set on the revived Näive label comes from the Quatuor Diotima, long-associated with thorny contemporary repertoire. They're marvellous here, forensically accurate but never driving the music too hard…An outstanding achievement then, and a library choice. These quartets aren't always easy listening, but they contain some of the last century's most profound and emotionally affecting music. If you've not heard them before, start here.

Alpha is pleased to welcome again the great flautist Juliette Hurel, who has made several recordings for ZZT and Outhere in the past. This recording is the result of the fruitful encounter between the flautist and the Voce Quartet, which occurred in the inspiring framework of the Ferme de Villefavard in the Limousin region.

The Naxos recordings by the Kodály Quartet are outstanding in every way and would. The performances are superbly shaped, naturally paced and alive; the playing is cultivated, yet it has depth of feeling too, and the group readily communicate their pleasure in this wonderful music. …The digital recording has vivid presence and just the right amount of ambience: the effect is entirely natural.

The Naxos recordings by the Kodály Quartet are outstanding in every way and would. The performances are superbly shaped, naturally paced and alive; the playing is cultivated, yet it has depth of feeling too, and the group readily communicate their pleasure in this wonderful music. …The digital recording has vivid presence and just the right amount of ambience: the effect is entirely natural.

The three string quartets of Johannes Brahms are difficult beasts to master. On the one hand, they contain some of the densest, richest harmonization in the repertoire. This can be quickly followed by moments of utter transparency and serenity. The Cuarteto Casals, however, only delivers on one half of this sonic spectrum. When it comes to the lighter sound quality as heard, for example, in the beginning of the third movement of the A minor quartet or the fourth movement of the B flat major quartet, the sound quality produced by the Cuarteto Casals seems just about right.

The Naxos recordings by the Kodály Quartet are outstanding in every way and would. The performances are superbly shaped, naturally paced and alive; the playing is cultivated, yet it has depth of feeling too, and the group readily communicate their pleasure in this wonderful music. …The digital recording has vivid presence and just the right amount of ambience: the effect is entirely natural.

The Kodaly Quartet are fully worthy of the composer's inexhaustible invention and make a splendid bargain recommendation. Their playing brings joyful pleasure in Haydn's inspiration and there is not the slightest suspicion of over-rehearsal or of routine: every bar of the music springs to life spontaneously, and these musicians' insights bring an ideal combination of authority and warmth, emotional balance and structural awareness.

The Kodaly Quartet are fully worthy of the composer's inexhaustible invention and make a splendid bargain recommendation. Their playing brings joyful pleasure in Haydn's inspiration and there is not the slightest suspicion of over-rehearsal or of routine: every bar of the music springs to life spontaneously, and these musicians' insights bring an ideal combination of authority and warmth, emotional balance and structural awareness.

he players take an appropriately spacious view of the Sunrise Quartet's serene opening bars, and provide a deeply felt account of the wonderful F sharp major slow movement from Op. 76/5. They offer, too, an intensely dramatic performance of the first movement of the D minor Fifths Quartet, and manage to find a striking change of colour for the minor sections of Op. 76/5's opening movement.

The Tokyo String Quartet is one of the world's leading interpreters of Beethoven, and although its 1993 RCA release of the complete string quartets is one of the most admired of modern digital sets, the ensemble offers a refreshed presentation of the late string quartets on this 2010 triple SACD package from Harmonia Mundi. This release follows albums of Beethoven's early and middle quartets, issued by the group between 2005 and 2009, and while the Tokyo's personnel differs from past lineups, the group has maintained great consistency of tone, superb technique, and refined expression since its founding in 1969.

Although the six string quartets Opus 3 by Manuel Canales Braulio (1747-1786) experienced their first publication in London, the composer is not listed in the New Grove (1980). The more important are the notes by the first violinist of the Munich Cambini Quartet in the booklet. Canales worked primarily at the Cathedral of Toledo and at the court of the Duke of Alba in Madrid. His quartets are influenced by Haydn and Boccherini, but also have a certain Spanish flair.

After years of comparative neglect Giuseppe Martucci is taking his rightful place as one of the most important late romantic Italian composers. His style is a happy and individual mix of Wagner and Verdi, dramatic chromatism softened by lyrical, bel canto style melodies. Martucci was a composer, conductor, teacher and excellent pianist, who made extensive European tours as a soloist. His music from his early period is written in sophisticated salon style, charming and picturesque. Later Martucci wrote more substantial works, like the two Piano Trios and Piano Quintet recorded on this 2CD, full blooded romantic music in which the virtuoso pianism is proof of Martuccis great gift as a performer. Excellent performances by Italian forces: pianist Maria Semeraro and the Quartetto Noferini.