Quatuor Hermès & Hélène Clement

The string quartet is widely considered to be the 'king of chamber music'. But what, then, is the string quintet – the 'emperor of chamber music'? For connoisseurs, at any rate, the quintet deserves the same status as the quartet. Although the repertoire is nowhere near as extensive as that for the string quartet, the few works created over the course of a century are exquisite nonetheless. It all began with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who, in Salzburg and following the example of court composer Michael Haydn, made his first attempt at this expanded ensemble: a string quartet plus an additional viola. Ten years later in Vienna, he composed no fewer than four such works, bringing the quintet to the highest esteem – the String Quintet in C major being perhaps the most significant of these. Following an interlude featuring quintets by Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn, the string quintet did not experience a revival until the end of the 19th century, marking the conclusion of the genre's history. This revival included two quintets by Brahms, one by Dvořák and Bruckner's monumental String Quintet in F major, his only significant contribution to chamber music. The Quatuor Hermès, one of

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