Schubert / Haydn: String Quartets

Their shared passion for chamber music led Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff, Hanna Weinmeister and Elisabeth Kufferath to form a string quartet in 1994 – the Tetzlaff Quartet was born. Since then, this ensemble has developed into one of the most sought-after quartets of the middle generation. With this album, the string quartet makes its debut on the Finnish label Ondine, the company where Christian Tetzlaff has found his preferred musical home for many years. The selection of works is quite unusual. Schubert's 15th and final string quartet meets an early work by Joseph Haydn. In plain terms: "one of the lonely peaks of the entire chamber music literature" (Reclam Kammermusikführer on Schubert's 15th String Quartet) meets a rather neglected work, often simply classified as "cheerful and Hungarian". As surprising as the program reads, it is also surprising how well the pairing works. This album is a major, significant recording and an early highlight in the ongoing classical year 2017!