Louis Spohr: String Quartets (Complete), Vol. 12

Written at a particularly trying and eventful time in Spohr’s life, No. 33 includes an intensely felt Adagio molto, one of the finest slow movements in the whole of his output. No. 35 realised Spohr’s aim to compose a quartet which returned to the classical ideals of Haydn and Mozart, while retaining many features of his own individual style. The Potpourri in G major was the twenty-year-old composer’s first work for string quartet, written when Spohr was just setting out to make his name as a violin virtuoso.