“Harmony, bliss, music of Raphaelesque beauty! and yet in its simplicity, how wonderfully artistically everything is done.” This is how Theodor Billroth enthused about the first String Quartet op. 88 by his friend Johannes Brahms.

No wonder that it soon won the hearts of audiences and musicians alike. This chamber music work was written in spring 1882 as usual put to the test in various preview performances and revised until the autumn.

Here, Brahms placed himself fully in the tradition of...