Quote Originally Posted by eestlinc View Post
Transfigured Night was originally written for string sextet (or maybe septet) and then expanded for full string orchestra. It's good, and from Schoenberg's late romantic period (pre-atonal).

Schubert's quartets are great, but many hold that his string quintet is even better.

Shostakovich has a great set of 15 quartets too.
I have the sextet version also, but I prefer the string orch. For some reason I was thinking that someone else arranged it for the sextet...

Trout, right? I heard a lot of hype, so I bought it, and I still much prefer death and the maiden. I've been hearing quite a bit of Shostakovich on the radio and Cable music channel. Some of his quartets might be the next thing I pick up.

I'm working on an arrangement of Grieg's popular concerto (the opening theme), and I can't get enough of the Peer Gynt Suite. Of course you have "In the Hall of the Mountian King" and "Morning," but the Suite is full of great stuff. I don't generally like a whole lot of vocal stuff, but Grieg writes for it very well (in the suite and also in some of his songs with piano I've heard).