String Quintets Nos, 1, 2, : Raphael Ensemble

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) : String Quintets
The Raphael Ensemble

String Quintet No 1 in F major, Op 88
String Quintet No 2 in G major, Op 111

Recording details: April 1995 St George's, Brandon Hill, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Originally issued on CDA66804

Brahms composed his two published String Quintets amid the rural tranquillity of Bad Ischl in Upper Austria and the works can almost be seen as an expression of escape from the 'urban stress' of nineteenth-century Vienna. The Quintets show Brahms standing at the pinnacle of the composition of chamber music, their gentle pastoral character being subtly shaded by a profoundly melancholy introspection.

This disc follows up on the extrordinary success of The Raphael Ensemble's recording of Brahms's two String Sextets (CDA66276). ( Hyperion )