Artist	Song
Emerson String Quartet	String Quartet in B Major, Op. 11: II. Molto adagio "Adagio for Strings"
from Ives & Barber: String Quartets (1993)
Mstislav Rostropovich	Second Suite For Cello, Op. 80: II. Fuga (Andante)
from Britten: Cello Symphony - Shostakovich:cello Concertos (2004)
Katia Labèque & Marielle Labèque	Trois morceaux en forme de poire: II. Enlevé
from Erik Satie (2009)
Orpheus String Quartet	'Ainsi la Nuit...': I. ( ), I Nocturne, Parenthese 1 / II. Miroir D'espace, Parenthese 2 / III. Litanies
from Debussy, Ravel & Dutilleux: String Quartets (2006)
Arditti Quartet	String Quartet No. 3: III.
from Nancarrow: String Quartet No. 3 - Ligeti: String Quartet No. 2 - Dutilleux: String Quartet "Ainsi la nuit" (2006)
Arditti Quartet	String Quartet in Four Parts: IV. Quodlibet
from Cage: The Complete String Quartets Vol. 2 (1992)
Alban Berg Quartett	No.3
from Debussy/Ravel/Stravinsky (2004)
LaSalle Quartet	String Quartet No. 2 (1967-68): Come un meccanismo di precisione
from Ligeti: String Quartets, Ramifications, Etc (2003)
Kronos Quartet	Quartet for Strings: Introductory Movement
from Lutoslawski: String Quartet (2005)
Pacifica Quartet	String Quartet No. 5: I. Giocoso
from Carter: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5 (2008)
Schoenberg Quartet	5 Movements, Op. 5: I. Heftig Bewegt
from Webern: Chamber Music for Strings (2003)
Kronos Quartet	String Quartet No. 5: IV.
from Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass (2005)
The Kontra Quartet, Anton Kontra, Boris Samsing, Peter Fabricius & Morten Zeuthen	Quartetto Breve
from Nørgård: String Quartets 1 - 6 (1988)
Glenn Gould	Sonata for Piano No. 3, Op. 92, No. 4: II. Theme, Canons and Variations. Andantino - Agitato - Allegretto
from Glenn Gould: Works by Berg, Krenek, Webern, Ravel & Debussy (1995)
Juilliard String Quartet	Lyric Suite: I. Allegretto Gioviale
from Janácek: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 "Intimate Letters" - Berg: Lyric Suite (1996)

Comment:

As you can tell from our journey, chamber music turns out to mean very different things to different composers, as it makes its journey from antiquity to the modern day. For those of you who think Schoenberg is all edges, angles, and dissonance, check out the Czech Philharmonic Sextet's recording of "Sextet for Strings: II. Adagio," which is as lyrical, dark, and gorgeous as a ripe fig. Though most people familiar with Holst's "The Planets" knows it in its orchestral form, Fiona York & John York have seamlessly adapted "The Planets Suite, Op. 32 (Four Hands, One Piano Version): V. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age" for piano four-hand. And the Kronos Quartet manage to hold the center — remarkably — in composer Terry Riley's "Half-Wolf Dances Mad in Moonlight," the sort of wildly energetic, herky-jerk-change-filled composition you might imagine playing in Harry Haller's ears in Hermann Hesse's [i]Steppenwolf[/i], or in Rainer Maria Rilke's mind, wandering the boulevards in "Autumn Day."

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