For the first time, Decca presents the entire Argo recordings of the Allegri String Quartet in one edition. On 13 discs with original jackets, over 80% of the recordings of the string quartet, active since 1953 and thus the longest active in Great Britain, appear for the first time on CD. Highlights span the 1969 Radcliffe Award-winning, rarely recorded quartets by Forbes, Maconchy, Johnson and Sculthorpe, in addition to masterworks by Schubert, Beethoven and Brahms. The recordings are accompanied by a 40-page booklet (En/Fr/De) with a new introduction by Jeremy Hayes.

Tracklist:

CD1–5 

SCHUBERT

String Quartets Nos. 7–15,

D.87

D.94

D.112

D.173

D.353

D.703 “Quartettsatz”

D.804 “Rosamunde”

D.810 “Der Tod und das Mädchen”

D.887

CD6      

SCHUBERT

String Quintet in C, D.956

with Moray Welsh, cello

CD7      

BEETHOVEN

String Quartet No.10 in E flat, Op.74 “The Harp”

String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.95

CD8      

BRAHMS

String Quartet Nos. 1 & 2, Op.51

CD9      

BRAHMS

String Quintet No.1 in F, Op.88

String Quintet No.2 in G, Op.111

with Patrick Ireland, viola

CD10    

BRAHMS

Clarinet Quintet Op.115

BAERMANN

Clarinet Quintet No.3, Op.23 – II. Adagio

with Jack Brymer, clarinet

CD11    

BOCCHERINI

Quintets Nos 13-18, Op.55 Nos. 1–6

with Sarah Francis, oboe

CD12    

BRITTEN

String Quartet No.1 in D, Op.25

String Quartet No.2 in C, Op.36

RAVEL

Introduction & Allegro M.46

ROUSSEL

Serenade Op.30, L.36

with Christopher Hyde-Smith, flute; Thea King, clarinet (Ravel); Marisa Robles, harp

CD13    

FORBES

String Quartet No.1

MACONCHY

String Quartet No.9

JOHNSON

String Quartet No.2

SCULTHORPE

String Quartet No.8