String Quartets Nos. 10 & D.87 & 15 & D.887

For their first recording of music by Franz Schubert, the members of the Cuarteto Casals perform works from two very different periods in the composer's life. Wrongly dated upon its publication in 1830, the String Quartet No.10 in E flat Major is in fact the work of a 16-year-old musician who had just entered teachers college. It is coupled here with Schubert's very last effort in the genre, the String Quartet No. 15 in G Major. Symphonic in organization and structure, in its scope and difficulty, it is typical of his later works. Although only thirteen years separate the two pieces, the differences in form and complexity offer the listener a fascinating example of Schubert's rapid growth and stylistic changes.