Haydn: The Complete String Quartets

Hyperion proudly presents the Complete Haydn String Quartets on period instruments in one 20CD box. These acclaimed performances from The London Haydn Quartet combine historically informed performance practice with performing editions published during Haydn’s own lifetime. The release celebrates the 25th anniversary of the formation of The London Haydn Quartet.

 ‘No one who loves this glorious music could have hoped for a better finish … the more I returned to these performances, the more I found myself warming to their fantasy, their disciplined spontaneity and their cumulative insights’. (Gramophone)

Inside, the 10x double-CD sets are presented in strikingly handsome double wallets throughout, each featuring opulent paintings by Samuel Scott on front and back. Each wallet offers a track listing, with many presenting facsimiles of the original scores and frontispieces.

The 52-page booklet brings together all the individual album booklet essays by Richard Wigmore, from the first release (2007) to the last (2023). 

Haydn is revered as the father of the string quartet. In number, scope and imagination, Haydn’s quartets define the genre. Even Mozart dedicated six of his own string quartets to Papa Haydn. The set begins with Haydn’s Opus 9 quartets, widely considered—including by the composer himself—as the start of his development of this new genre.

Tracklisting:

Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

CD1      No. 4 in D minor · No. 1 in C major · No. 3 in G major

CD2      No. 2 in E flat major · No. 5 in B flat major · No. 6 in A major

CD3      No. 4 in C minor · No. 3 in E flat major · No. 2 in F major

CD4      No. 1 in E major · No. 5 in G major · No. 6 in D major

CD5      No. 1 in E flat major · No. 2 in C major · No. 3 in G minor

CD6      No. 4 in D major · No. 5 in F minor · No. 6 in A major

CD7      No. 2 in E flat major ‘The Joke’ · No. 4 in B flat major · No. 1 in B minor

CD8      No. 6 in D major · No. 5 in G major ‘How do you do?’ · No. 3 in C major ‘The Bird

CD9      No. 1 in B flat major · No. 2 in C major · No. 3 in E flat major

CD10    No. 4 in F sharp minor · No. 5 in F major ‘The Dream’ · No. 6 in D major ‘The Frog’

CD11    Op. 54 No. 1 in G major · Op. 54 No. 2 in C major · Op. 54 No. 3 in E major

CD12    Op. 55 No. 1 in A major · Op. 55 No. 2 in F minor ‘Razor’ · Op. 55 No. 3 in B flat major

CD13    No. 1 in C major · No. 2 in B minor · No. 3 in B flat major

CD14    No. 4 in G major · No. 5 in D major ‘The Lark’ · No. 6 in E flat major

CD15    Op. 71 No. 1 in B flat major · Op. 71 No. 2 in D major · Op. 71 No. 3 in E flat major

CD16    Op. 74 No. 1 in C major · Op. 74 No. 2 in F major · Op. 74 No. 3 in G minor ‘Rider’

CD17    No. 1 in G major · No. 3 in C major ‘Emperor’ · No. 5 in D major ‘Largo’

CD18    No. 2 in D minor ‘Fifths’ · No. 4 in B flat major ‘Sunrise’ · No. 6 in E flat major

CD19    Op. 77 No. 1 in G major · Op. 77 No. 2 in F major · Op. 42 in D minor

CD20    The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross Op. 51