One of the most important figures in Russian music of the late 19th century was Sergei Taneyev, born on November 13, 1856 in Vladimir, a city 200 km east of Moscow. He entered the Moscow Conservatory in 1866, shortly after its foundation, at the age of nine. Just two years later, Nikolai Rubinstein accepted him into his class and trained him to become a first-class pianist and musician.

Taneyev also attended the harmony class of P. I. Tchaikovsky, with whom he had a lifelong friendship. Later in life, he in turn became one of the most influential teachers of his time. His numerous pupils included such diverse personalities as Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Glière.

Taneyev was not a prolific writer. He was a seeker who listened to himself and proceeded very cautiously. He rejected everything conventional, superficial and cheap. Just how self-critical he was is shown by the fact that only 36 works from his extensive oeuvre, which includes symphonies, an opera, many vocal works and chamber music, were given an opus number.

These include six string quartets, two string trios and two string quintets. In the summer of 1889, he began composing his First String Quartet Op. 4, a work dedicated to Tchaikovsky, who received it enthusiastically. It was played frequently in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 1890s and performed throughout Europe by the most famous string quartet of the time, the Bohemian String Quartet. Its five-movement structure is unusual.

The Fourth String Quartet Op. 11 in A minor was composed in 1898 / 99, after Taneyev had completed and successfully performed his Symphony in C minor. Initial reticence towards his music had turned into respectful admiration. His string quartets were praised for their high quality and performed regularly. The A minor quartet is unique in its unity.

Through contrapuntal work, he developed a thematic network of individual motifs that extends over the entire piece. Yet for all its intellectual rigor, musicality is not neglected.

Despite its technical sophistication, the Adagio in particular captivates with its deep emotions and provides fine proof of Taneyev's masterly ability to fuse construction and emotion.

Further information
- Recorded in April 2024, Ardea, Italy
- Booklet in English contains liner notes by the quartet's violist Gerhard Müller and a biography of the ensemble
- The first volume of the recording of Sergei Taneyev's complete string quartets!
- Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915) was one of Russia's most important musical personalities around 1900. As a pupil of Tchaikovsky and Nikolai Rubinstein, he enjoyed a brilliant career as a pianist (he played the first Moscow performance of Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto!) However, he established himself as a composer and influential teacher of Scriabin, Rachmaninov, Medtner and Glière.
- Although Taneyev's style was purely Romantic, he was influenced by the classics, especially Beethoven and Brahms, while in his later works he returned to the counterpoint of none other than J. S. Bach.
- This first volume of string quartets presents Quartets Nos. 1 and 4.
- Played by the Swiss-based Rasumowsky Quartet. The Rasumowsky Quartet gained international attention with the complete recording of all fifteen string quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich for his 100th birthday in 2006. Maxim Shostakovich describes the recording as "one of the best recordings of my father's music ever".