Brahms's String Quintet No 1

Natasha Loges compares recordings of Brahms's String Quintet No 1 in F major, Op 88, and chooses her favourite.

Brahms composed his String Quintet No 1 in F major in 1882 during a summer sojourn in the Austrian Spa town of Bad Ischl. Like the Mozart string quintets, it is written for two violins, two violas and one cello and Brahms intimated to his friend Clara Schumann that it is one of his finest works. To his publisher, Simrock, he said 'that you have never before had such a beautiful work from me'.

The Quintet comprises three movements: a glowing Allegro non troppo ma con brio and an exuberant fugal finale bookend an expansive and passionate slow movement.