Haydn: String Quartets, Vol. 3

This is volume three in the Doric String Quartet’s ongoing exploration of Haydn’s complete string quartets, already highly praised by major international media and regularly supported by concerts in the world’s greatest venues, from Carnegie and Wigmore halls to the Royal Concertgebouw. The Op. 64 Quartets date from a time of great change for Haydn, compared with the previously recorded Op. 20 and Op. 76. Not only was Haydn preparing for the greatest adventure of his life – what would turn out to be the first of two trips to London – at the time of their composition, in 1790, but they also appeared under a new publisher, Leopold Kozeluch’s firm Magazin de musique. Marked throughout by the virtuosity of the Doric String Quartet, the rhythmic energy as well as the poetic tenderness of the players, this recording showcases a highly characteristic side of Haydn’s music, the inexhaustible versatility and constant unpredictability of the materials.