Following the release of the first three quartets of the Op. 33 set in May 2023, a recording that was hailed by critics for its "extraordinarily faithful interpretation that goes straight to the heart of the works" and won numerous awards (including a Diapason d'or, Choc from Classica and Supersonic from Pizzicato), the Chiaroscuro Quartet presents the final three quartets of this set. Having already recorded Op. 20 and Op. 76, the ensemble here continues its historically informed and insightful journey through Joseph Haydn's string quartets, a long-term project that began in 2020. Its unique sound has been described as "a shock to the ears of the best kind". These works, known as the 'Russian Quartets' and dedicated to the Russian Grand Duke Paul, later Tsar Paul I, show Haydn at his most eccentric and non-conformist. For this collection Haydn had the impression that he preferred to write music that better suited the lighter, more 'popular', less 'scholarly' taste of the public, with a livelier sense of rhythm. Compared to the preceding quartets, they are stylistically more progressive and represent the birth of the classical quartet genre. Mozart drew inspiration from them for his own quartets "dedicated to Haydn".