Johannes Brahms: Quartet, Op. 25 in G Minor

String Quartets in c minor and a minor op. 51-Brahms had already composed over 20 String quartets (he confessed to a friend that he had burnt all of that ?stuff?) before he finally presented his Opus 51 to the public. In the end only threesurviving works managed to withstand his high self-criticism; numerous layers of corrections bear witness to his struggle with each detail. We are now publishing the two passionate dark Quartets Op. 51 separatelyfrom the rather more lively Opus 67. The basis for this edition is the volume in the New Complete Edition of Brahms? works published in 2004 by Henle for which previously missing sources in a Swiss bequest wereconsulted for the first time.

Schubertâ??s composition of a new string quartet begun in December 1820 was alas never to get beyond the first movement the heavily reworked autograph breaks off at the outset of the second movement. But the fragmentary work that later came into the hands of Johannes Brahms from Schubertâ??s estate delighted its new owner so much after its premiere in 1867 that Brahms had the first movement published three years later as Schubertâ??s â??Posthumous Workâ? â?? thus paving the way into audiencesâ?? hearts for this little gem. Schubertâ??s autograph manuscript features such numerous divergences in dynamics and articulation that editor Egon Voss suspects it to be one of Schubertâ??s experiments withvariations. This is why in his Urtext edition he proceeds with extreme restraint in issuing additions and changes with respect to parallel passages ¬â?? thus making Schubertâ??s diversity of ideas comprehensible for performing musicians. For all who want a peek inside Schubertâ??s workshop the few measures of the second movement are included as a bonus! Schubertâ??s composition of a new string quartet begun in December 1820 was alas never to get beyond the first movement the heavily reworked autograph breaks off at the outset of the second movement. But the fragmentary work that later came into the hands of Johannes Brahms from Schubertâ??s estate delighted its new owner so much after its premiere in 1867 that Brahms had the first movement published three years later as Schubertâ??s â??Posthumous Workâ? â?? thus paving the way into audiencesâ?? hearts for this little gem. Schubertâ??s autograph manuscript features such numerous divergences in dynamics and articulation that editor Egon Voss suspects it to be one of Schubertâ??s experiments withvariations. This is why in his Urtext edition he proceeds with extreme restraint in issuing additions and changes with respect to parallel passages ¬â?? thus making Schubertâ??s diversity of ideas comprehensible for performing musicians. For all who want a peek inside Schubertâ??s workshop the few measures of the second movement are included as a bonus!

Johannes Brahms’s Piano Quintet is not only one of the mightiest works in its genre but also a climax in his chamber music oeuvre. This new volume adopts the definitive text from the New CompleteEdition of Brahms’s Works.