Brahms: String Quintets, Op. 88 & 111 Digital MP3 Album

Composed near the end of Brahms’s life, the Op. 88 and 111 were the composer’s first string quintets. While the shadow of Beethoven loomed large for much of Brahms’s career, these works represent a liberation of sorts, both incorporating and superseding the master’s influence. The Boston Symphony Chamber Players, whose playing the Boston Globe has described as “consistently satisfying,” performs the works here.