Nor­dic string sounds

His piano concerto is a worldwide absolute bestseller. But it is little known that the Norwegian Edvard Grieg was also able to impress in the field of chamber music. His String Quartet in G minor op. 27 is one of the most important works of the genre. It was not intended as "a triviality for simple minds", said Grieg, tellingly, but aimed "at breadth, flight of the imagination and above all at the timbres of the instruments". This places the work in a tradition of orchestral, sound-related quartet composition that stretches from Schubert's late quartets to Debussy and Bartók. Grieg's work, which was premiered in Cologne in 1878, can thus be seen without exaggeration as the "missing link" in this development. From here, a jump to Sweden, where the pianist and composer Laura Valborg Aulin lived. She studied in Paris with Jules Massenet, among others, and wrote piano pieces and songs, two string quartets, some organ music, and orchestral and choral works. Hans Abrahamsen is today considered one of the leading figures on the contemporary music scene in Denmark and one of Scandinavia's most internationally recognized composers. He wrote his third string quartet in 2008.