Zemlinsky Quartet - Franz Schubert: The First String Quartets (2008)

In Metternich's Vienna, chamber music was the favourite distraction of a number of aristocrats and the leisure class as well as student Bohemia. By 1815, a teenaged Franz Schubert had already written (at least) ten scores for quartet, for the family circle, Hausmusik, without seeking to conceal his models borrowed from Haydn and, especially, Mozart. Natural melodic invention, amazingly elaborate harmonic skill and the spirit of the Lied did not fully assert themselves until the Quartettsatz of 1820, an Allegro assai, suddenly filled with anxiety, followed by 41 bars of an Andante suspended forever, ordinarily passed over in silence. Here, the Zemlinskys repeat the fantastic success that marked their previous performances of Dvorak's early quartets (PRD 350 028).