Szymanowski & Janacek – String Quartets

The quartets of both Janácek and the Szymanowski, powerful, quite draining works, are totally engaging to listen to. The musicians of the Schoenberg Quartet comment, ‘we love and care about these four works very much and believe they have something in common, in spirit’. The Schoenberg Quartet celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2006. The members will play their last season together in 2008 / 09. They share an interest in the composers of the Second Viennese School and have specialised in music of the first two decades of the twentieth century. Their previous recordings for Chandos form a comprehensive survey of the works for strings by Schoenberg, Webern, Berg and Zemlinsky, issued on nine CDs to great critical acclaim.