Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E flat major, Op. 127 - CD

This first disc by the Hermès Quartet couples two major works in the genre, the Quartet op.20 no.5, the jewel of one of Haydn's most prestigious sets, and Beethoven's op.127, the first of his late quartets and generally regarded as the peak of the quartet repertoire.

The Hermès Quartet, founded in 2008 in Lyon, is the winner of 2012 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. It also won First Prize and the Coup de Coeur Breguet Prize at the Geneva International Music Competition in 2011.

The musical identity of the ensemble and the cohesion of its members have been strengthened by working with such musicians as Miguel da Silva (Ysaÿe Quartet); Eberhard Feltz and Arnold Steinhardt (Guarneri Quartet); Valentin Erben and Hatto Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartet) and Walter Levin (LaSalle Quartet). The Hermès Quartet is currently engaged in postgraduate study with the Artemis Quartet and the Ysaÿe Quartet.

Founded in 1992, the New York-based Brentano Quartet is known for its interpretations combining perfect technique and matchless musicality. Those qualities are even more obvious in this series of late Beethoven quartets with this first volume bringing together the Op. 127 and 131.

This pure crystal of intelligence and brilliance will doubtless constitute a milestone.

For the Artemis Quartet, Beethoven remains “the most modern, provocative, experimental and boldest composer of all”. The Artemis’ devotion to Beethoven’s towering quartets brings two seasons of concerts around Europe and the US and, in 2011, the release of the complete cycle on Virgin Classics.

The sixth release in the Artemis Quartet’s complete Beethoven cycle comes as the Berlin-based ensemble devotes its international performing schedule to this cornerstone of the repertoire.

“This group finds a balance between projecting musical structure and conveying immediacy,” wrote the New York Times in March 2010. “The players cultivate unity of thought and intention but not conformity of sound and style ... the Beethoven performances the Artemis offered were remarkably cogent and organic. The Quartet in E flat (Op. 127), the first of the five late works, is my favourite of the Beethoven quartets, partly because it is so blithely strange. Artemis captured that quality in an engrossing performance. For example, in the middle of the pensive slow movement the music breaks out into something reminiscent of a sentimental German beer-hall tune complete with an oompah dance riff, qualities impishly conveyed here. The seemingly breezy theme of the finale has astonishing twists embedded in its phrases and harmonies, vividly realized by Artemis”.

“"it is striking that the relatively early performances show the Amadeus achieving a combination of focused intensity, delicacy and intellectual power that may surprise those who know them only from their later appearances" Stephen Johnson