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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Brahms - Complete String Quartets
The string quartets of Brahms demonstrate his perfectionism: he wrote dozens of works in the genre, but rejected all but three, and worked at the first one for twenty long years before publishing it. Even the famous Piano Quintet Op. 34 was rewritten several times for various formations before it was published in its final version, whose achievement is today undisputed. These works stepped out of Beethoven's shadow to take a firm place in musical history. Since its formation in Madrid in 1997, Cuarteto Casals has achieved recognition as one of Europe's most distinguished string quartets.The group came to public attention when it won first prize at both the 2000 London International Competition and the 2002 Brahms International Competition. It now performs regularly in the finest halls in London, Paris, Berlin,Vienna, Zurich,Amsterdam, Madrid, New York and Tokyo, and has appeared at such festivals as Salzburg and Lucerne.The quartet has accompanied the King of Spain on state visits and performed at the Royal Palace of Madrid on the royal family's set of matched Stradivarius instruments. Cuarteto Casals was honoured in 2005 with the Prize of the City of Barcelona, in 2006 with the Spanish National Music Award and in 2008 with the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. Claudio Martínez Mehner studied in Madrid, Moscow, Freiburg, Como and Baltimore with Joaquín Soriano, Dmitri Bashkirov,Vitalij Margulis and Leon Fleisher. He has won first prizes in international competitions at Saragossa and Milan and at the Fondation Chimay (Belgium). For many years now he has performed extensively as both soloist and chamber musician in Europe, the USA and Asia. “the best quartet to have come out of Spain for many a year” The Strad “It's typical of the Casals approach that, even in the Piano Quintet, it should be the introspective moments that make the biggest impression - their playing before the finale builds to its last hurrah is beautiful - and in all these works, something a little more three-dimensional is needed.” Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 5th September 2008 *** | 
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| |  | The Essential Leon Fleisher
Brahms: | Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 Julliard Quartet |
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| |  | Brahms - String Quartet & Piano Quintet
Stephen Hough (piano) Takács Quartet “This is the finest recording of Brahms’s Piano Quintet since the electrifying Eschenbach/Amadeus version … Stephen Hough and the Takács Quartet push the music about as far as it can go … one senses from the start that [Hough] is really fired up and the Takács follow him every inch of the way
with playing of beguiling tonal sophistication and thrilling intensity … this is an exceptional account of a truly exceptional masterwork … the Takács gently caress and cosset this extraordinary music with a glowing sensitivity and insight … highly recommended, especially to those who normally
find Brahms a composer they admire rather than fall in love with” International Record Review “These new versions from Stephen Hough and the Takács Quartet strike me as even better, and in more modern sound … in both Quintet and Quartet the performers give bright, focused, alert, almost
‘classical’ readings, very different from the ponderous brown studies that marked Brahms performances of yesteryear … this is an altogether recommendable release” BBC Music Magazine “a model for what chamber music should be” The Guardian “In the Brahms Second Quartet the Takács fins a most appealing lightness of touch. … the Piano Quintet… has fire and passion aplenty… There's a feeling of coming together of ideas, with these artists… sparking off one another in a very unstudio-ish way.” Gramophone Magazine, Janurary 2008 “In both Quintet and Quartet the performers give bright, focused, alert, almost 'classical' readings…” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Clifford Curzon & Amadeus Quartet
Clifford Curzon (piano) Amadeus Quartet | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Brahms - Piano Quartet and Quintet
Prisca Benoit (piano), Roland Daugareil, Christophe Poiget (violins), Michel Michalakakos (viola) & Roland Pidoux (cello) The Quartet dates from 1861 and received mixed reviews after its premiere. The critic, Hanslick, thought it ‘dull and boring’ the violinist Joseph Joachim could find no fault with it. The Quintet went through a number of changes over a period of years before Brahms was satisfied with it. |
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| |  | Piano Quintets
Elisabeth Leonskaja, Rudolf Buchbinder, Phillippe Entremont & Georg Hörtnagel Alban Berg Quartett “A variable success. Whilst the Alban Berg Quartet perform with beauty of tone an incisive ensemble, Leonskaja lacks real charm in the Schubert and her Brahms fails to deliver.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 *** | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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Leif Ove Andsnes (piano) Artemis Quartet “With an almost ideal balance between piano and strings, the variety of articulation in their playing brings a marvellous textural variety to the full-blooded writing in the outer movements of the Brahms. …the performances… can be confidently recommended as among the finest modern recordings of both works.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 *****  BBC Music Magazine
Chamber Choice - November 2007 |
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| Brahms - Complete String Quartets
Leon Fleisher (piano) Emerson String Quartet “When you have an intelligent, technically almost superhuman ensemble like the Emerson Quartet, playing with obvious feeling for the music, reservations about quartet-style fly out of the window.” BBC Music Magazine BBC Music Magazine Chamber Choice - June 2007 |
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| |  | Myra Hess - Historic Broadcast Recordings
Brahms: | Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 National Gallery Concert, London 25th August 1942 Griller String Quartet | Schumann: | Carnaval, Op. 9 BBC Studio Recital, Broadcasting House, London, 13th October 1950 |
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| |  | Brahms & Weber - Quintets with two cellos
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Gramophone Awards 2008
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