Brahms: String Quartets, Op. 51 Nos. 1 & 2 Zehetmair Quartett

• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 51 No. 1:
• 1 Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 51 No. 1: I. Allegro 10:28
• 2 Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 51 No. 1: II. Romanze. Poco adagio 06:35
• 3 Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 51 No. 1: III. Allegretto molto moderato e comodo – un poco più animato 08:22
• 4 Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 51 No. 1: IV. Allegro 05:41
• String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51 No. 2:
• 5 Brahms: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51 No. 2: I. Allegro non troppo 12:27
• 6 Brahms: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51 No. 2: II. Andante moderato 09:00
• 7 Brahms: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51 No. 2: III. Quasi menuetto. Moderato – Allegretto vivace 04:45
• 8 Brahms: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51 No. 2: IV. Finale. Allegro non assai – Più vivace 06:44
• Total Runtime 01:04:02

Info for Brahms: String Quartets, Op. 51 Nos. 1 & 2

A central fixture in the world of string quartets for the past thirty years, the Zehetmair Quartett’s ECM recordings of Schumann, Hindemith, Bartók and Hartmann have received luminous praise—Gramophone lauded their Schumann as “Record of the Year”, while The Sunday Times described their Hindemith and Bartók performances as “playing of huge finesse in both pieces,” calling them “a real benchmark”. For this this newest entry to their New Series catalogue, the quartet turns to Johannes Brahms’s first two string quartets, Op. 51 Nos. 1 and 2—works of mature reflection and dramatic urgency that reveal Brahms’s mastery of form. The composer had after all written over 20 quartets prior two these two, as he confided to a close friend. But Brahms torched them all, making these his first two of a total three published quartets. Recorded with the Zehetmair Quartett’s characteristic intensity, from-memory freedom, and richly expressive depth, the performances promise fresh and deeply felt readings of these cornerstone chamber works. Regrettably, it is the last of the quartet’s recordings to feature cellist Christian Elliott (1984-2025). “It was a joy to work with him on the ever-changing character of the voices, to sense the meaning of every phrase and bring it to life. The void he leaves behind is painful – Christian, we miss you.”

Zehetmair Quartett:
Thomas Zehetmair, violin
Jakub Jakowicz, violin
Ruth Killius, viola
Christian Elliott, violoncello

Zehetmair Quartett:
Founded in 1994 by Austrian violinist and conductor Thomas Zehetmair, the Zehetmair Quartet ranks among the world’s finest string quartets.

Highlights of previous seasons include a complete Schumann Cycle at Wigmore Hall, the premiere of Heinz Holliger’s string quartet, commissioned by Köln Musik for the Zehetmair Quartet; performances at major venues and festivals throughout Europe including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salzburg Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Palau de la Musica Barcelona, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and a performance at Elliot Carter’s 100th birthday commemoration in New York.

Their discography for ECM is varied and highly acclaimed, including Schumann Quartet (Gramophone Record of the Year), Hindemith and Bartok (“playing of huge finesse in both pieces” – The Sunday Times, “a real benchmark” The Guardian) and Holliger, Hartmann and Beethoven; demonstrating their prowess in mainstream repertoire as well as the challenging works of the twentieth century. Their next highly anticipated release for ECM will be the Brahms Quartets.

In November 2014, the Zehetmair Quartet was awarded the Paul Hindemith Prize by the city of Hanau for outstanding musical achievement.

Thomas Zehetmair
“As a listener I want to immerse myself in music, understand its structure and be moved by the beauty of its proportions and the richness of its passions.”

That notion of immersion, of deep engagement with the music, runs like a thread through Thomas Zehetmair’s distinguished and unusually varied musical career as soloist, quartet leader, and conductor. Zehetmair was born in Salzburg in 1961 and has an association with ECM dating back to his early twenties. In his recordings, he has explored some of the peaks of the solo violin repertoire (Paganini’s 24 caprices and Eugène Ysaÿe’s solo sonatas), duets (with violist Ruth Killius, on “Manto and Madrigals”) and, as soloist and conductor, repertoire that includes Bartók, Schoenberg, Veress, and Heinz Holliger. Zehetmair has spoken of virtuosity not as an end in itself but a means to an end: a mastery of all the expressive possibilities that enables access to “the purpose and relationship of every single note in the overall musical architecture”.

The eponymous Zehetmair Quartet, founded in 1994, bring an almost improvisational quality to the repertoire they play; the fact that their performances are given from memory means they sparkle with the freshness of new discoveries. Their recording of Robert Schumann’s string quartets nos. 1 and 3 was described as “revelatory” by Gramophone magazine, which praised its eschewal of surface gloss in favour of uncovering these works’ profound beauty. That disc won Gramophone Record of the Year in 2003. The Zehetmair Quartet has looked afresh at other monuments of the string quartet repertoire and also made an eloquent case for less familiar masterpieces by composers such as Hartmann, Hindemith, and even Bruckner, as well as producing the first recording of Heinz Holliger’s string quartet, which Zehetmair has called “an explosion of fantasy”.

Booklet for Brahms: String Quartets, Op. 51 Nos. 1 & 2