{"title":"The String Quartet Sale 2026","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eOver\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e500\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003etitles featuring string quartets are on sale now at\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eHBDirect!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eDiscover string quartets by\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBeethoven\u003c\/strong\u003e,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDvorak\u003c\/strong\u003e,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHaydn\u003c\/strong\u003e, and more performed by acclaimed ensembles such as the\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eCalidore String Quartet\u003c\/em\u003e, the\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDoric String Quartet\u003c\/em\u003e, and the\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eEnsemble MidtVest\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eShop the sale now before it ends at\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e9:00am ET, Tuesday, March 3, 2026\u003c\/strong\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"picker-symphony-no-2-string-quartet-no-1","title":"Picker: Symphony No. 2 \/ String Quartet No. 1","description":"\u003cp\u003ePicker's Second Symphony is a \"big\" work, worthy of the genre and incorporating a compelling dramatic design of seven movements flanked by a prelude and a postlude. (First Edition)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"First Edition","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46907798159640,"sku":"809157002925","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/664375.jpg?v=1778805885"},{"product_id":"rozsa-herrmann-music-for-string-quartet","title":"Rózsa \u0026 Herrmann: Music For String Quartet","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhile producing a string of hit scores for MGM such as the Oscar-winning Ben Hur, Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995) continued to add to his distinguished catalogue of works in classical forms, often writing in a more abstract and severe style than his late-Romantic music for the movies. Rózsa himself remarked that ‘in 1948, a new style began to appear in my Piano Sonata—more percussive, contrapuntal, aggressive. The String Quartet [No.1, 1950] continued in this vein. Maybe it was an inner protest against the excessive amount of conventional music I had had to write for conventional pictures.’ In terms of influence, the tone of the Quartet (dedicated to Peter Ustinov) is closer to his teacher Kodály than that of Bartók even in the driven second movement, though even the intense lyricism of the third movement scarcely contains an angry mood which is finally resolved by the exhilarating finale. The more conventionally Romantic strains of the String Trio date from Rózsa’s student days at the Leipzig Conservatoire in 1927, assimilating Brahms as well as the edgier work of his Hungarian elders. Breitkopf \u0026amp; Härtel published the work in 1929 as Op.1, but in 1974, the composer made major revisions to the original score, including numerous cuts, for its first recording. The String Trio, as presented here, is the world premiere recording of the work as it was originally composed by. Breitkopf \u0026amp; Härtel published the work in 1929 as Op.1. In 1974, Rózsa made major cuts to the original score for its first recording. The ensemble merian presents the full, original version of the trio.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46907830337816,"sku":"5028421962306","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3958954-2728071.jpg?v=1777806746"},{"product_id":"chapi-string-quartets-vol-2","title":"Chapi: String Quartets, Vol. 2","description":"\u003cp\u003eSaul Bitran writes: “Ruperto Chapi’s String Quartet No. 3 could well be subtitled Tragic Quartet. Here’s a work of a stormy nature, containing atmospheres of drama, anguish and loneliness.” (Sono Luminus)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sono Luminus","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46907857404184,"sku":"053479225429","price":7.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4041859-2786679_8a102bc3-dea0-43c4-a8f1-d80f6ee983ea.jpg?v=1777655167"},{"product_id":"alfano-string-quartets-nos-1-3","title":"Alfano: String Quartets Nos. 1–3","description":"\u003cp\u003eKnown more widely as a composer of operas, Franco Alfano also composed a body of chamber music including the three string quartets heard here in world premiere recordings. The Quartet comprises violinists Elmira Darvarova and Mary Ann Mumm, violist Craig Mumm and cellist Samuel Magill. (Naxos)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46907908784408,"sku":"747313904273","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4230872-3143574.jpg?v=1777534823"},{"product_id":"delius-smyth-string-quartets-villiers-quartet","title":"Delius \u0026 Smyth: String Quartets","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe String Quartet in E minor by Ethel Smyth, one of the most innovative and original figures in English music, has a masterful coherence and consistency. With eloquent writing for the viola in particular, it is both playful and reverential, and ends with a flourish – forthright, bold and uncompromising, like Smyth herself. Delius wrote the early String Quartet in 1888 but it was rejected for performance and he was later to reuse the Scherzo for his mature Quartet of 1916–19(8.573586). In 2018 the score of the two opening movements of the 1888 Quartet, long assumed lost, reappeared at auction and have been edited and reunited with the final two in this premiere recording, which adds significantly to our understanding of Delius’s early compositional directions.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46907927658776,"sku":"747313437672","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4129428-2885995.jpg?v=1777727086"},{"product_id":"penderecki-string-quartets-nos-1-4-der-unterbrochene-ged","title":"Penderecki: String Quartets Nos. 1-4 - Der Unterbrochene Ged","description":"\u003cp\u003ePenderecki wrote music for string quartet over a period of 56 years. His String Quartet No. 1 was written in the same year that he achieved international success with Threnody, and includes a wide range of playing techniques reflective of the avant-garde. String Quartet No. 2 reveals the influence of Ligeti, while No.3 is a personal, even autobiographical work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46907941486872,"sku":"747313428878","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3964309-2703286.jpg?v=1777753345"},{"product_id":"janacek-string-quartets-nos-1-2-sonnets","title":"Janácek: String Quartets Nos. 1 \u0026 2 - Sonnets","description":"\u003cp\u003eJanáček’s final decade saw an almost unprecedented creative renewal during which he wrote some of his greatest works. Among them were his chamber music masterpieces, the two String Quartets. The first was inspired by Tolstoy’s novella The Kreutzer Sonata, a torrid tale of adultery and murder to which Janáček responded with music of increasingly frenzied passion. The second was subtitled Intimate Letters, a freely evolving work full of yearning and amorous defiance. originally cast for four violins, the two youthful Sonnets date from 1875 and balance the archaisms of the first with the lyricism of the second.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46907952365848,"sku":"747313420971","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3897488-2665669.jpg?v=1777566442"},{"product_id":"kurpinski-moniuszko-noskowski-works-for-string-quartet","title":"Kurpinski, Moniuszko \u0026 Noskowski: Works For String Quartet","description":"\u003cp\u003eProviding an overview of almost a century, this album reflects the aspirations of Polish nationalism through the works of three pivotal figures: Karol Kurpinski, whose Fantasy for String Quartet is both serious and ingenious in design, Zygmunt Noskowski, whose witty piece on a theme of Viotti includes the use of a polacca, and Stanislaw Moniuszko, whose quartets balance the hymnal with the rustic. (Naxos)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46907965079832,"sku":"747313397877","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4211144-2990458.jpg?v=1777565570"},{"product_id":"del-adalid-arriola-duran-string-quartets","title":"Del Adalid, Arriola \u0026 Duran: String Quartets","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis recording showcases 3 string quartets by 3 Galician composers from 3 consecutive centuries. Each composer represents the experiences of their respective lifetimes in Galicia, a place with a true vocation for universality. Marcial del Adalid (1826–1881) was born into a family with a great musical tradition. After studying in London with Ignaz Moscheles, one of Beethoven’s disciples, Adalid became one of the main representatives of the ‘Rexurdimento’, a Romantic nationalist movement in Galicia. The String Quartet in G Op.16 was the author's only foray into this genre. The four movements follow the pathway set by Beethoven, and echoes of his Sonata Pathétique can be heard; later, the final section recalls the transparent classicism of the Haydnian rondos. José Arriola (1895–1954), was a famous pianist and composer. A child prodigy, he was sponsored by the Queen Regent María Cristina who gave him a scholarship to study in Germany with Richard Strauss. Arriola's String Quartet in C, dedicated to the memory of his mother, presents writing imbued with Germanic post-romanticism, the legacy of Strauss’s teachings. A work of great depth, Arriola creates a dense polyphonic framework while eliminating ornaments, giving the piece great lyrical intensity. Juan Durán (b.1960) is one of the most representative composers of the current generation of Galician artists. He has written many pieces for chamber, symphonic, vocal and stage genres, as well as orchestrations of Galician music. The most striking aspect of his String Quartet is, without a doubt, the choice of the three movements that make it up: a pasodoble, a blues and a samba. Durán wanted to heighten the classical form through maintaining its sonata structure. Therefore, the pasodoble acts as the exposition section, the blues is the development, and the energetic final samba is structured around the recurring rondo.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46908055453976,"sku":"5028421966618","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4164094-3141789.jpg?v=1777735983"},{"product_id":"holmboe-string-quartets-vol-2","title":"Holmboe: String Quartets, Vol. 2","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Nightingales continue with energetic, precise, yet lively and poetic interpretations of the Holmboe quartets, which stand amongst the most significant contributions to the genre in the 20th century. “If you don’t know him, Holmboe is a great composer, and this is a series that should appeal to all lovers of the 20th-century string quartet. I can’t imagine these masterful interpretations being bettered.” - Limelight (Dacapo)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dacapo Classical","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46908132884760,"sku":"747313171767","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4085538-2830005.jpg?v=1777699063"},{"product_id":"string-quartets-1-291439","title":"String Quartets, Vol. 1","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"It must be said that these new accounts by the Nightingale Quartet are at the very least competitive with their forebears and the finest to date sonically. In many respects, they follow similar trajectories through the works as did the Kontra, though in No. 1 they are more measured in the opening Affettuoso – animato but more energised in the dancelike finale.\"  - Gramophone\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dacapo Classical","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46908148351256,"sku":"636943621226","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3802493-2647471.jpg?v=1777589001"},{"product_id":"paganini-string-quartet-no-3-tre-duetti-943324","title":"Paganini: String Quartet No. 3 - Tre Duetti Concertanti","description":"\u003cp\u003eOne aspect in the life and work of the great Genoese virtuoso Nicolò Paganini that may be lesser known but in no way should be underestimated is the pronounced interest with which he dedicated himself to chamber music both as an interpreter and as a composer. He was drawn in particular to the genre of the string quartet – and here we are presenting his energetic String Quartet No. 3, a work revealing his brilliant mastery in the field of chamber music. (CPO)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CPO","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46908225356056,"sku":"761203531028","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3993618-2736405.jpg?v=1777698285"},{"product_id":"complete-works-for-string-quartet-iii-761203513024","title":"Complete Works For String Quartet Iii","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn contrast to his first two quartets, the third quartet, which Marteau composed towards the end of the First World War, is of a completely different nature and presents itself as a strongly biographical work. The CD is supplemented with the \"Eight Songs with String Quartet Accompaniment,\" op. 10 speak, written in 1905. (CPO)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CPO","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46908226011416,"sku":"761203513024","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4136090-2896943.jpg?v=1777698277"},{"product_id":"complete-string-quartets-1-2pk-359608","title":"Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, Op. 18","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Dover Quartet, “the young American string quartet of the moment” (The New Yorker), launches its emerging, three-volume complete Beethoven quartet cycle with the six Opus 18 quartets, often cited as the epitome of the classical string quartet as developed by Haydn and Mozart while foreshadowing Beethoven’s future innovations.  The Dover featured Beethoven's Quartet in G major, Op. 18, No. 2, in its 2020–2021 season programming. (Cedille)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cedille","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46908239642904,"sku":"735131919821","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3842068-2597921_acc85080-dd82-4e35-8cd7-153ca865f827.jpg?v=1777781477"},{"product_id":"garrop-in-eleanors-words-silver-dagger-string-quartet","title":"Garrop: In Eleanor's Words \/ Silver Dagger \/ String Quartet","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis release offers world-premiere recordings of three works by “a rising composer who . . . excites the enthusiasm of performers and audiences alike” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). 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(Leaf)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Leaf Music","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46908251439384,"sku":"615499526735","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4160926-2928196.jpg?v=1777718436"},{"product_id":"korngold-string-quartets-2-3-alma-966098","title":"String Quartets Nos. 2 \u0026 3","description":"\u003cp\u003eErich Wolfgang Korngold was most widely known and rewarded as one of the founding composers of Hollywood film music, but also a noted composer in the classical music world. His String Quartet No. 2, Op. 26 (1933) was written just before Korngold moved to Hollywood and is full of musical imagery of Vienna, with gestures towards the waltzes of Johan Strauss II as well as the intricate lyricism of Richard Strauss. 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The Lithuanian Vilnius String Quartet offer world premiere recordings of these two forgotten gems.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ondine","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46908271395096,"sku":"0761195135129","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3920592-2670882.jpg?v=1777686167"},{"product_id":"garcia-string-quartets-nos-1-3","title":"Garcia: String Quartets Nos. 1-3","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe music of the Cuban-American composer Orlando Jacinto Garcia inhabits a sonic universe of its very own, one where the musical landscape is constructed in order to evoke a thorough suspension of time. The three works on the present release correspond almost precisely to the past three decades of Garcia’s career and thus present for the interpreter and listener alike a kind of survey of his development.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metier","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46908298002712,"sku":"809730861321","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3897459-2667289.jpg?v=1777762952"},{"product_id":"walton-string-quartet-in-a-minor-shostakovich-string-quartet-no-3-in-f-major","title":"Walton: String Quartet In A Minor; Shostakovich: String Quar","description":"\u003cp\u003eFollowing their successful Dvorák cycle with Signum Records, Albion String Quartet are back with a selection of string quartets by Walton and Shostakovich. 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Suffice to add the Tippett Quartet, which premiered the latter two works, proves an assured and persuasive exponent while the running order, of 2-1-4-3, makes for a program well worth experiencing as a continuous sequence.\" - Arcana (Toccata Classics)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Toccata","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46908347416856,"sku":"5060113446886","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4191037-2965980.jpg?v=1777602945"},{"product_id":"mendelssohn-complete-string-quartets-vol-2","title":"Mendelssohn: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 2","description":"\u003cp\u003eAfter a first volume praised by the press, including an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, the Quatuor Van Kuijk concludes its complete recording of Mendelssohn’s string quartets with op.44 nos. 2 and 3 and the Quartet op.80, which bears the mark of the sudden death in 1847 of his sister Fanny, to whom he was very close, at the age of only forty-two. 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