World premiere recording:
Carl Czerny: String Quartets
2 CD Set

In May 2015, the Sheridan Ensemble's recording of rediscovered string quartets by the Austrian composer Carl Czerny (1791-1857) was released to great critical acclaim on the label Capriccio.

Carl Czerny is known as Beethoven's most famous pupil and the most important and influential piano pedagogue of the 19th century, whose legacy lives on to the present generation of pianists. An almost unknown fact is that Czerny also composed a large number of string quartets (by some reports, over 40), none of which has ever been published. Towards the end of his life, Czerny stated that his actual artistic ambitions lay in his "quartets, symphonies and sacred works" and that most of his published works were mere "childish pranks".

The international press's praise of the quality of the compositions underscores the fact that they finally deserve to be brought out of obscurity.

What the press said:

"The consistency of the sound across the members of the quartet is admirable.....a truly significant musical discovery, conveyed in an ardent and committed way."
- David Milsom, "The Strad" magazine, September 2015

"The Sheridans.....match the Viennoiserie with performances oozing that very Viennese quality of Gemütlichkeit. And their impeccable taste, sensitivity and refinement never overload the music with more import that it can bear. There's a naturalness that assumes no special pleading is required, yet none of Czerny's conversational felicities are allowed to pass unnoticed."
- Paul Riley, BBC Music Magazine, October 2015

"All four pieces included here are substantial in every sense....The players are splendidly alive to the music, with readings full of vivacity. The tensile Scherzo of the D minor quartet sounds like Mendelssohn on steroids....while there's plenty of energy when needed, there's also an airiness which gives the textures an entrancing luminosity, enhanced by a natural-sounding recording. A real find."
- Harriet Smith. Gramophone, August 2015

"This new recording by the magnificent Sheridan Ensemble…is a landmark release. Czerny’s music is superb; the Sheridan’s performances are sublime."
- Paul Ballyk, Expedition Audio, 2015