String Quartets / American Quartet
Brahms reportedly destroyed more string quartets than he actually published, and it's not surprising. Aside from being even more intimidated by Beethoven's quartets than he was by Beethoven's symphonies, he was extremely self-critical, and much more comfortable writing chamber music which featured his own instrument--the piano. The Amadeus String Quartet was the outstanding British chamber group from the late 1950s through the early 1970s, and they excelled in performances of the standard Viennese classical repertoire. Their Brahms is a particularly fine example of their artistry, and Dvorák'sThe AmericanQuartet makes an appealing bonus.--David Hurwitz