The Keller Quartet interprets Brahms's String Quartet No. 2

The Keller Quartet—named for its founder, the violinist András Keller—rose to international prominence in the 1990s when they won the Évian and Borciani competitions. Made up of solo artists passionate about chamber music, the Keller Quartet is animated by a spirit of boundless curiosity that leads them to a great variety of repertoire, from Bach to Bartók and everywhere in between. In 1994, the ensemble turned their focus to the work of Brahms, performing the full set of the composer's string quartets in Munich.

Composed in 1873, Brahms's Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51, was first performed in private for Clara Schumann, longtime object of the composer's affection, in Vienna. The second quartet, bearing similarities to the first, is representative of the Sturm und Drang style of that time period: a classic structure anchored in tradition, enriched with complex harmonies and modern melodies that almost seem to herald the arrival of the First Symphony, which Brahms would compose three years later.