After releasing its complete Beethoven cycle on Virgin Classics in late 2011, the Artemis Quartet follows up with a double-disc presentation of Franz Schubert's last three string quartets. This is the group's second Schubert foray, a logical step to take after the 2008 release on the same label of the String Quintet in C major, with cellist Truls Mørk, and the Quarttetsatz in C minor. Schubert's final works in the string quartet genre bear a particular significance, not merely because they are mature compositions that show ...
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After releasing its complete Beethoven cycle on Virgin Classics in late 2011, the Artemis Quartet follows up with a double-disc presentation of Franz Schubert's last three string quartets. This is the group's second Schubert foray, a logical step to take after the 2008 release on the same label of the String Quintet in C major, with cellist Truls Mørk, and the Quarttetsatz in C minor. Schubert's final works in the string quartet genre bear a particular significance, not merely because they are mature compositions that show impressive formal development, but also because they reflect the composer's growing agitation and profound depression over his imminent mortality. The String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, "Rosamunde"; the String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, "Death and the Maiden"; and the String Quartet No. 15 in G major are among Schubert's most sublime statements, and they require the emotional power and spiritual depth an ensemble would give to Beethoven's late quartets. The Artemis Quartet earnestly...
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