Haydn: String Quartets, Opp. 42, 51, 77 – London Haydn Quartet

With Haydn’s String Quartets Opp. 42, 77, and The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross, the London Haydn Quartet completes a much-admired survey of their namesake’s mature quartets. This final installment provides a fitting conclusion to a series which throughout has communicated a real sense of joy, both in Haydn’s inexhaustible inspiration and in the collaborative music-making which characterizes all this remarkable group’s performances. The Seven Last Words — heard here in the composer’s own arrangement for string quartet — is simply sublime, and a fitting testimonial to the composer’s deep, enduring faith. It provides an apt and generous coupling for the two magnificent Op. 77 quartets, Haydn’s final complete contribution to the string quartet genre.