The Hampton String Quartet, alternately known as the Hampton Rock String Quartet, is a

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

specializing in

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

and other popular styles using two violins, a viola and a cello. In 1998 they were nominated for a Grammy Award, and as of 2012 they were the best selling string quartet with over 1 million CDs sold in the US alone. According to the liner notes of their 1986 debut album, ''What if

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

wrote "

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song written in 1943 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical '' Meet Me in St. Louis''. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics. ...

",'' the quartet was formed specifically for that album in response to

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

's desire to record string quartet arrangements of mostly-secular Christmas music in a classical (Mozart) style. That album went on to sell close to a million copies and together with their following albums and CDs have made HSQ one of the largest selling string quartets in history. Their debut album was followed in 1988 by ''What if Mozart Wrote "

Roll Over Beethoven "Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 song written by Chuck Berry, originally released on Chess Records, with "Drifting Heart" as the A-side and B-side, B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to be a ...

"'' and ''What if Mozart Wrote " Born to Be Wild"'' in 1989 and then ''What if Mozart Wrote " I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".'' Following the ''What if Mozart...'' series, little was heard from the quartet until 1993, when they released an album featuring the Rolling Stones' "

Sympathy for the Devil "Sympathy for the Devil" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones. The song was written by Mick Jagger and credited to the Jagger–Richards partnership. It is the opening track on the band's 1968 Studio album, album ''Beggars Banquet ...

" as its title track, which subsequently was part of the debut album on the label of the cellist's music publishing company
Mona Lisa Sound
Since then, the quartet has released three additional albums through Mona Lisa Sound, ''HSQ Rides Again'' (2004), ''HSQ Does Christmas (Again)'' (2004) and ''Take No Prisoners'' (2005). Their most recent releases include an all-Beatles CD, ''The Off-White Album'', as well as ''All Zeppelin''. As of 2018, their current roster consisted of Regis Iandiorio, first violin, Abe Appleman, second violin, Richard Maximoff, viola and John Reed, cello, all of whom except Appleman are original members.

References

External links

Webpage
{{authority control American string quartets Musical groups established in 1986 1986 establishments in the United States