Beethoven: String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18 No. 1

The Sacconi Quartet presents a new recording of three of Beethoven’s masterful early string quartets. The Opus 18 quartets (Nos 1, 4 and 6) appear on the third release on the Quartet’s own label, Sacconi Records. The disc is released upon the recent completion of the Sacconi Quartets’ two year Beethoven Cycle, performed in the UK at both the Canterbury Festival and Music at St Peter’s, Wallingford.

This set of six works, published as Opus 18 in 1801, were Beethoven’s first attempt at writing for the string quartet. Beginning these early masterpieces, the 28 year old Beethoven was already known for his virtuosic improvisations and remarkable musicianship. In these quartets he not only demonstrates his skill and mastery of the medium as developed by Haydn and Mozart, but also explores new musical territory, anticipating later developments in his compositional style.

The F major quartet (Op.18 No.1) is a masterpiece in brilliance and vitality, with a slow movement that contains some of the most sensitive and tragic writing of his earlier works.

In Op.18 No.4 in C minor, Beethoven moves towards a more concerto-like format and the first violin dominates in this vibrant and atmospheric piece. The final quartet of the set, Op.18 No.6 in B flat major is a work of extreme contrasts, and the slow introduction to the last movement, La Malinconia, is a celebrated passage of profound originality.

The Sacconi Quartet is one of the UK's leading string quartets. Since its formation at the Royal College of Music in 2001, it has established a secure and substantial reputation. The Quartet is recognised for its unanimous and compelling ensemble, performing with style and commitment and consistently communicating with a fresh and imaginative approach. Its four founder members demonstrate a shared passion for string quartet repertoire, infectiously reaching out to audiences with their energy and enthusiasm. Over the past decade they have enjoyed a highly successful international career, performing regularly throughout Europe, at London’s major venues, in recordings and radio broadcasts.

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”.

After Crescendo reported in detail about the ‘shooting stars, Delian Quartett’ in 2008, the magazine Ensemble and a number of other specialist publications have also acknowledged the extraordinary development of the group resulting in several features and promotion.

Four members of the internationally renowned Afflatus (Wind) Quintet from the Czech Republic perform arrangements by Bok, Vester, and Muclinger of chamber music by Beethoven and Mozart on a new hybrid SACD.

Afflatus Quartet derives from Afflatus (Wind) Quintet, the winner of one of the most prestigious chamber music competitions in the world, the International Music Competition of the ARD Munich 1997. With Radek Baborak, the world famous horn player and Afflatus member taking a "vacation" from the ensemble, the four remaining members, each of which is an active soloist throughout Europe and especially in Czech Republic, have produced an album that features classical repertoire by Beethoven and Mozart in arrangements for wind quartet. The disc includes versions of Beethoven’s String Quartet No.1 by Bok, and Adagio and Allegro, Wo0.33 by Vester, alongside those of Mozart’s Fantasie in F minor, K608, Andante in F major, K.616, and Adagio and Allegro in F minor, K.594 by Munclinger.

The release of this two-disc set completes the Budapest String Quartet's historic Beethoven string quartet cycle, recorded at the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium. Both the middle and late Quartets from this cycle (BRIDGE9099A/C and BRIDGE9072A/C) have frequently been cited as among the finest recordings ever made of Beethoven's singular masterpieces. The present recordings of Beethoven's six Op. 18 quartets were selected from performances given during the Budapest's 22-year long residency at the Library. In addition to the six quartets, a short track drawn from a Budapest String Quartet rehearsal (1944) is included on disc two.