Of the 200 minutes of music in this collection, Benjamin Britten’s three major string quartets account for significantly less than half. And while it is convenient to have all the string pieces that Britten composed in his teens and early 20s placed alongside the mature works – the First Quartet was composed in 1941, the Second in 1945, and the Third, his last completed major score, not until 1975 – the historical context they provide is not always especially meaningful, except as a reminder of just how precociously accomplished a composer Britten was.
