Accustomed to the most canonical output by avant-garde composers, we sometimes react with amazement to their youthful works, which often attest to their perfect mastery of the principles of composition with which they were about to dramatically break. Such is undoubtedly the case with Langsamer Satz, a work without opus number for string quartet by Anton Webern. According to the critics, this lyrically atmospheric work, in the spirit of late romanticism, conveys the mood of the mountain trek on which the composer supposedly fell in love with his cousin and future wife, Wilhelmina Mörtl.

Enchanted by the aura of Paris, Grażyna Bacewicz returned from her second stay in the French capital having composed there her String Quartet No. 3. This work is characterised by passionate vitality and a wealth of development techniques in the outer movements and a bold departure from the tonal path in the slow movement.

Before Johannes Brahms considered any of his string quartets suitable for public consumption, he apparently destroyed some 20 youthful essays in the genre. His admiration for Ludwig van Beethoven’s quartets bordered on a paralysing creative phobia. The Quartet in C minor from Op. 51, sent to his publisher after years of work and revision, turned out to be one of the most groundbreaking works in his oeuvre. Even if it does contain discernible elements of the Beethovenian spirit, Brahms managed to keep a rein on them.