Johann Benjamin Gross String Quartet No.2

[matesic]

I just performed a mental playthrough of the first movement, first violin part of the first quartet. A large majority of the courtesy accidentals are indeed superfluous - I counted 14, of which one might be considered a borderline case (an F# coming shortly after a Bb). In addition I found 4 notes where a courtesy accidental would have been helpful! I wondered if Gross and Hiller might have shared an inexperienced editor, but it was only with Gross's second quartet that he used the same publisher, Hofmeister, as Hiller did for his first two. Odd that in Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey Gross gets no evaluation beyond a bare listing and mention of his association with Ferdinand David, and even there only the string quartets numbered 2, 3 and 4 are mentioned.

[Double-A]

Just a short announcement:  The parts and score of quartet no. 1 are now on IMSLP.  More importantly for most of us:  Steve's interpretations are also there and I recommend everybody to listen to them both for the quality of Steve's work and Gross's.