Beethoven: Complete String Quartets Volume 4

Beethoven's most experimental in the medium. The playing, as ever, is blisteringly detailed and right in your face: you can feel the grain of the music and actually hear the fierce tension of... — The Herald (Glasgow), April 2015 More…

Release Date: 9th Mar 2015
Catalogue No: AUDITE92683
Label: Audite
Series: Quartetto di Cremona Beethoven String Quartets
Length: 67 minutes

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

Work length28:45

$7.00

$9.10

Quartetto di Cremona

I. Allegro con brio

Track length9:17

$2.00

$2.60

II. Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato

Track length9:01

$2.00

$2.60

III. Scherzo. Allegro molto

Track length3:24

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Allegro

Track length7:03

$2.00

$2.60

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 131

Work length38:52

$10.00

$12.95

Quartetto di Cremona

I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo

Track length7:14

$2.00

$2.60

II. Allegro molto vivace

Track length3:11

$1.00

$1.30

III. Allegro moderato

Track length0:45

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile

Track length13:45

$3.00

$3.85

V. Presto

Track length5:21

$1.00

$1.30

VI. Adagio quasi un poco andante

Track length1:44

$1.00

$1.30

VII. Allegro

Track length6:52

$1.00

$1.30

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For their fourth volume of Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartets, the Quartetto di Cremona have chosen two works forming a portal within his quartet writing.

Beethoven had opened his Op. 18 set with the Quartet in F major, written in 1798/99 at the behest of his patron and friend, Prince Lobkowicz. Despite the mellifluous, pastoral key, the music draws a long line from the brilliantly crafted first and last movements to the dark hues of the Adagio, apparently inspired by the tomb scene from Shakespeare’s 'Romeo and Juliet'. Even within the framework of the traditional form, Beethoven’s quartet début achieves a maximum of moods and stylistic variety.

Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 131 of 1826, generally perceived as a peak within his chamber music, is entirely different. It was written in the shadows of the Ninth Symphony and the 'Missa solemnis', but appears much more eccentric and experimental than these two large-scale works. Seven sections of diverse tone and character are played without breaks in between; a brooding fugue stands alongside a sensitive adagio, a folk tune presto is next to a restless finale. The work was written for the Viennese violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, whose quartet set the professional playing standard for the following 100 years. Schuppanzigh rehearsed Beethoven’s Op. 131 painstakingly – without him this music, which was deemed not only unplayable but also 'unhearable' by contemporaries, would not exist.

Reviews

The Herald (Glasgow) April 2015

Beethoven's most experimental in the medium. The playing, as ever, is blisteringly detailed and right in your face: you can feel the grain of the music and actually hear the fierce tension of concentration through the players' breathing (part of it; not a distraction) … This gripping Cremona cycle goes from strength to strength.

Beethoven: Complete String Quartets Volume 4

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