Favorite single String Quartet movement?

If you have to choose just one movement that is your favorite string quartet movement ever, which would it be?

For me it is definitely the pizzicato-laced 2nd movement of Ravels String Quartet in F:

Apparently this quartet got a very bad reception the first time it was performed and Faure - who it was dedicated to - hated it.

Anyway - what's your favorite of all time?

It may be a cliched answer, but I guess I'd say the slow movement from Beethoven's A minor quartet, Op. 132:

Notturno, from the String Quartet no. 2 by Alexander Borodin.

There are others I rank highly, like the 2nd movement of Tchaikovsky's String Quartet no. 1, or the opening movement of Hugo Wolf's String Quartet, or even the second movement of Rachmaninoff's String Quartet no. 2 (and of course, the classical quartets by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert), but if I'm being honest, it has to be Borodin's Notturno. The perfect balance between melodic beauty and proportion is unparalleled, not to mention being one of the most moving pieces ever written (at least in my opinion).

Edited January 12, 20215 yr by Theodore Servin

Beethoven's Grosse Fugue obviously:

I think this piece it is one of the greatest musical miracles in existence. The amount of creativity, how emotionally powerful it is and the superhuman craftship Beethoven displayed here are midblowing.

But if you are asking about a movement from a string quartet with several movements my choice is probably the 1st movement of Beethoven's Op.131:

Edited February 21, 20215 yr by Ivan1791

My favourite string quartet movement would be either Gliere String Quartet No. 2 or Brahms String Quartet No. 3 and their movement 1s.

Schubert's String Quartet no. 14 "Death and the Maiden" first movement.

Fourth Movement of Beethoven's String Quartet no. 4 in C minor

SO difficult because I like so many quartet movements from Beethoven and Bartok but if push comes to shove it has to be the opening movement of Beethoven's Op 131 Quartet in C# minor. It's a fugue. I first heard it recorded by the Fine Arts Quartet.

Why I choose this is that it converted me utterly to the possibility of the String Quartet as a medium of musical expression.  

Schubert

   String Quartet #15 1st movement.

   Mendelssohn string quartet 1, 1st movement

I'm stuck between two.

They're both very anguished movements, but sound very, very different from each other

First, Mendelssohn String Quartet no.6, Mvt. 1:

And second, Shostakovich String Quartet no.8, Mvt. 2:

On 1/12/2021 at 6:31 AM, Theodore Servin said:

Notturno, from the String Quartet no. 2 by Alexander Borodin.

There are others I rank highly, like the 2nd movement of Tchaikovsky's String Quartet no. 1, or the opening movement of Hugo Wolf's String Quartet, or even the second movement of Rachmaninoff's String Quartet no. 2 (and of course, the classical quartets by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert), but if I'm being honest, it has to be Borodin's Notturno. The perfect balance between melodic beauty and proportion is unparalleled, not to mention being one of the most moving pieces ever written (at least in my opinion).

 

Oh good lord, thank you for introducing me to this piece. 

The finale of Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 in E-flat minor

For me I have to fight between the movements of Beethoven’s op.131, 132 and 135. And the winner is….

I just cannot not choose this one…… So full of life and praise and pain of life… It’s even more concise than the slow movement of his op.132 one… Everytime when I get sad or pain I go back to Papa Bee’s late quartets to find someone who always give me power.