STENHAMMER QUARTET - STENHAMMER: THE STRING QUARTET

Composed between 1894 and 1916 Wilhelm Stenhammar�s body of six numbered string quartets is considered unique among Scandinavian music of its time, both in its consistency and in its musical aspirations. Together, the quartets reflect the composer�s development, from full-blown Romanticism to a more sparse and formally concentrated idiom that distances itself from late-Romantic conventions.Taking its name from the composer, the Stenhammar Quartet was the first ever to propose a complete traversal of the cycle on CD, including the world premi�re recording of a quartet in F minor that Stenhammar withdrew from his official catalogue after completing it. The series was greeted with great international interest and critical acclaim, both for performances described as �exceptional� (The Guardian) and for the quality of the music itself: �there is no doubt that Stenhammar belongs to the unknown great masters of the string quartet genre� (Klassik-Heute.de).