String Quartets 20 2

In this second volume of Haydn's Opus 20 String Quartets, the Dudok Quartet completes the picture of the composer as a narrator of his time and society, as well as a visionary who introduced a diversity of rhetorical and stylistic devices that paved the way for the likes of Mozart and Beethoven through to Schubert and Brahms in the string quartet genre. While Volume I (Nos 2, 3 & 5) largely explored the dramatic and emotional aspects of his music, this second selection (Nos 1, 4 & 6) reveals his optimism and capacity for wit and surprise.

Haydn remains the Quartet's most beloved composer whose works were the very first they played together. His music continues to guide their hands and minds when exploring repertoire from before and after his time.