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String Meditation

For many, string instruments – the soaring violin, the mellow viola, the soulful cello – come closest to the human voice: flexible, singing and minutely controllable in terms of colour and timbre. This playlist presents some of the most beautiful movements that bring these instruments together. Compositions for string quartet, quintet, sextet and orchestra that show their creators at their most personal – sometimes melancholy and tinged with sadness, but with an underlying sense of serenity and hope. Music to move and inspire.

  • Tchaikovsky
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    String Quartet No. 1 in D major op. 11 TH 111
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    II. Andante cantabile
  • Haydn
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    String Quartet in C major op. 50/2 Hob. III:45
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    II. Adagio cantabile
  • Dvořák
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    String Quartet No. 12 in F major op. 96 B 179 “American”
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    II. Lento
  • Purcell
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    Fantasia à 6 in G minor Z 746
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    Fantasia à 6 in G minor Z 746 "In nomine"
  • Purcell
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    Fantasy upon a Ground Z 731
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  • Beethoven
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    String Quartet No. 15 in A minor op. 132
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    III. Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an der Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart. Molto adagio
  • Pärt
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    Festina lente, for Harp and String Orchestra (1986, rev. 1990)
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  • Mahler
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    Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor
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    III. Abteilung • IV. Adagietto. Sehr langsam
  • Lekeu
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    Adagio for String Orchestra
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    Adagio
  • Bruckner
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    String Quintet in F major WAB 112
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    III. Adagio
  • Mozart
    •
    String Quintet No. 5 in D major KV 593
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    II. Adagio
  • Strauss
    •
    Sextet from 'Capriccio' op. 85 TrV 279a
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    Andante con moto
  • Suk
    •
    Serenade for Strings in E flat major op. 6
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    III. Adagio
  • Bacewicz
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    String Quartet No. 5 (1955)
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    III. Corale. Largo
  • Schubert
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    String Quintet in C major op. posth. 163 D 956
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    II. Adagio
  • Bach
    •
    Concerto for Violin, Strings and Basso continuo in E major BWV 1042
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    II. Adagio
  • Adès
    •
    Arcadiana op. 12 (1994)
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    VI. O Albion
  • Vaughan Williams
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    Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910, rev. 1913-1919) “Tallis Fantasia”
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    Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910, rev. 1913-1919) "Tallis Fantasia"
  • Britten
    •
    String Quartet No. 3 in G major op. 94
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    V. Recitative and passacaglia (La serenissima). Slow
  • Bach
    •
    Concerto for 2 Violins, Strings and Basso Continuo in D minor BWV 1043
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    II. Largo ma non tanto
  • Korngold
    •
    Symphonic Serenade for String Orchestra in B flat major op. 39
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    III. Lento religioso
  • Fine
    •
    Suite for Strings (2014)
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    4. Finding Home: Adagio sonore
  • Barber
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    Adagio for Strings (from the String Quartet op. 11) (1938)
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    Molto adagio
  • Brahms
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    String Sextet No. 2 in G major op. 36
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    III. Poco adagio
  • Elgar
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    Serenade for String Orchestra in E minor op. 20
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    II. Larghetto
  • Suk
    •
    Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale 'St. Wenceslas' op. 35a (Version for String Quartet)
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    Adagio, ma con moto
  • Anonymous (Traditional)
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    Now found is the fairest of roses (Arr. for String Quartet)
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