Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132

Beethoven remains the ultimate test for a string quartet; with their ongoing complete cycle for Virgin Classics, the Artemis Quartet are rising to the challenge.

The Quartet’s debut release on the label in 2005 comprised Beethoven’s op 59/1 and op 95, followed by the second release in 2008 in the cycle bringing together op 59/2, the ‘Razumovsky’ Quartet, and the Quartet op 18/4 and which also introduced the ensemble’s latest members, Gregor Sigl (violin) and Friedemann Weigle (viola). The interpretations were warmly welcomed: in France, the release was named CHOC of the Year by Le Monde de la Musique and was also awarded a Diapason d’Or, while in Germany the recording was chosen as Chamber Music Recording of the Year in the the ECHO Klassik awards of the Deutsche Phono-Akademie. In the UK, the influential Sunday Times singled out the release, praising the “fresh, positive responses” of the Artemis Quartet: “ … their colours are vivid and they are alert to the music’s intent to push all sorts of boundaries to breaking point.”

In the UK, BBC Radio 3’s CD Review suggested that the recording (op 59/2 & 18/4) should go to the top of any list of recommendations, while the Daily Telegraph observed that the Artemis “keep romantic expressiveness, dramatic urgency and a classical sense of architecture in fine equilibrium.”

A concert performance of Beethoven’s op 18/4 in the USA in 2008 year prompted the following reaction from the New York Times: “The Artemis has always played with vigor, brilliance and sensitivity. More than that, its performances have had clarity of conception and unfussy directness. All these qualities were abundant on this occasion … Beethoven's Quartet in C minor (Op. 18, No. 4) came across in this incisive and full-bodied performance as the audacious work of a supremely confident young man, especially in a moody menuetto, thick with slinky chromatic lines and wayward harmonies.”

As the name of this label would suggest, this CD presents the Beethoven and Mendelssohn A minor String Quartets in 2+2+2 surround sound on SACD with a DVD Video.