BEETHOVEN COMPLETE STRING QUARTETS QUARTETTO DI CREMONA LUDWIG VAN Beethoven String Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4 24:05 1. Allegro ma non tanto 8:39 II. Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto 7:01 III. Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio 3:37 IV. Allegro – Prestissimo 4:48 ‘Great Fugue’ in B flat major, Op. 133 15:13 Overtura. Allegro – Meno mosso e moderato – Allegro – Fuga – Meno mosso e moderato – Allegro molto e con brio – Meno mosso e moderato – Allegro molto e con brio String Quartet in F major, Op. 59, No. 1 39:13 I. Allegro 10:05 II. Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando 8:45 III. Adagio molto e mesto 12:16 IV. Thème russe. Allegro 8:07 QUARtetto DI CREMONA Cristiano Gualco, Violine Paolo Andreoli, Violine Simone Gramaglia, Viola Giovanni Scaglione, Violoncello A quartet in C minor acquired in other genres. Only once Count Lobkowitz, one of Beethoven’s aristocratic During his first years in Vienna, Beethoven patrons, commissioned six string quartets noticeably held back from composing each from Haydn and Beethoven around string quartets and instead, apparently on the end of 1798 for the fee of 400 guil- account of studying this craft, resorted to ders, was there no turning back. Whilst copying quartets by Haydn and Mozart. Of the aged Haydn did not manage to ful- course he knew exactly that the much- fil his duty entirely, Beethoven feverishly quoted Bonn farewell by Count Wald- worked, alongside large-scale works such stein – “Sustained diligence will bring you as his First Symphony, the final version of Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands” – did his Piano Concerto in C and his Septet not so much refer to the piano sonatas Op. 20, on the six string quartets. In Octo- and piano trios with which Beethoven ber 1800 he was able to confirm receipt of made his musical début in Vienna as to the final fee from Lobkowitz; following the symphonies and string quartets (and per- customary retention period of one year, haps opera, for which Haydn was known required by commissioners of the time for then, more than nowadays). The prestige performances of their own, the quartets of the string quartet genre had reached a were printed in Vienna as his Op. 18 in height which is perhaps best described by the notorious first edition, teeming with Goethe’s famous comparison to four peo- errors, by the publisher Tranquillo Mollo. ple engaged in a “sensible” conversation – Although Beethoven revolutionised the with which he certainly did not refer to a string quartet style of the time with his Op. harmless chat, but to a trenchant dispute 18, decidedly moving on from the techni- between equal partners. cal abilities of amateurs, he nonetheless However, this equality of the voices – drew upon his teachers and models. The which, in a homogenous structure com- agitated C minor opening of the fourth prising four strings without piano or added Quartet from Op. 18 does not hide the wind instruments, assumed a certain example from Haydn, to which Beethoven abstract, model-like quality – necessitated adds several imperious chords. The inner much experience which Beethoven initially movements are unusual and experimental, not allowing any adagio bliss to develop. form to be a “perfect” form of four-part An “Andante scherzoso” (the notion of writing; Beethoven closes the third of the which is in itself paradoxical) feigns an old- “Razumovsky” Quartets with a fugue, to fashioned minuet by way of a fugal opening great effect. However, the final movement which, however, during the course of the that Beethoven composed in the autumn movement turns out to be a sonata form of 1825 for his Quartet in B flat major, movement of an ironic, classicist basic hue Op. 130, the “Great Fugue”, is singular in (Gustav Mahler satirised this Biedermeier its radical and uncompromising design. sense of humour in the scherzo of his On 21 March of the following year, this Symphony No. 6). The “Menuetto”, on the work in six movements was premièred by other hand, appears more agitated than the Schuppanzigh Quartet, who valiantly expected and, with numerous accents and took on the enormous complexities of syncopations, Beethoven pushes it against the finale. The reviewer of the significant the grain. The rare instruction “la seconda Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, however, volta si prende il tempo più allegro” (the was left confounded by the fugue: “The second time the tempo is to be taken reviewer dares not interpret the meaning faster) shows that he also countered the of the fugal finale: to him it seemed unfath- obstinate repeat of the minuet after an omable, like Chinese.” aromatic trio. The final “Allegro”, a fiercely Perhaps it was the bewilderment of the dance-like rondo with three interludes and audience, or rather the technical complexi- a quirky prestissimo ending, is once again ties, which led Beethoven – on the insti- reminiscent, in its rapidly circling theme, of gation of his Viennese publisher, Artaria – similar movements by Haydn and Mozart. reluctantly to compose a new finale and to publish the fugue separately as Op. 133 Counterpoint ecstasy (Beethoven also published his own arrange- ment for piano duet as Op. 134 during the A fugue as a finale to a string quartet was same year, 1827). Despite its well-balanced no alien concept to a composer of the attachment to the Quartet Op. 130, the Viennese Classical era. Both Haydn and “Great Fugue” probably stands apart from Mozart deemed the strict contrapuntal all usual chamber music as an individual piece. Its sound, despite occasional lyrical of the theme in unison, softly murmuring excursions, is unusually rugged and sharp- chords and an effective ending closes this ened by harsh accents, gruff rhythms and work, which is completely unique within radical harmonies, anticipating not so much the string quartet repertoire. Brahms as Schoenberg. Formally, Beethoven attempts to com- Russian pastoral press baroque fugal technique and the classical-romantic sonata form into one F major! For Beethoven the key of bright enormous movement. A brief “Overtura” moods, often inspired by the arcadian calm initially presents the intensely chromatic of country life, even if this, during the time fugal theme in its original form, and then of the Napoleonic wars with its constant in short fragments whose rhythmic shapes troop movements, was already a decep- become significant during the course of tive idyll. Beethoven chose this key for the the movement. This is followed by the first of his three Quartets for the music first main section which combines the connoisseur Count Razumovsky which subject with a dotted counter-subject. even his contemporaries considered to be A true tour de force breaks forth, fortis- “deeply thought out and splendidly fash- simo, which comes to a sudden standstill ioned, but not generally comprehensible”. after 130 bars, clearing the way for a ten- And indeed, where had a composer’s lan- der, flowing variant of the theme (“Meno guage ever developed so radically as in the mosso e moderato”). In terms of sonata seven years that separate Beethoven’s set form, this could be described as a slow of Quartets Op. 18 of 1800 and the first movement which, after only a few minutes, “Razumovsky” Quar tet? Whilst the quar- is swept away by a delicate “Allegro molto tets of the 28-year-old were an ambitious e con brio”. The airiness of this section attempt to take his place within “Vien- gives way to another fugal development, nese Classicism”, Beethoven introduced speckled with triplets and trills – a varia- an entirely new concept of chamber music tion of a scherzo, perhaps, leading into the with his Quartets Op. 59 of 1806/07, when much-transformed repeat of the opening Haydn was still alive: music for highly spe- section. A coda with a high-volume repeat cialised professional musicians whose lan- guage, in contrast to the generally more fronted with revolutionary music. With a approachable symphonies and concertos, duration of nearly forty minutes, the quar- had become increasingly complex and tet exceeds even symphonic dimensions cryptic. The noble salon had become a (which Beethoven had, of course, already sound laboratory; occasional music for stretched considerably with his own connoisseurs and enthusiasts had become “Eroica”); technically, the “Razumovsky” confessional scores of an individual. Quartets, with their complex part-writing, The inspiration to the three Quartets awkward figures and extreme registers, Op. 59 was twofold: Count Andrey Kirillo- are a challenge for any quartet to the pre- vich Razumovsky provided the financial sent day. But formally the Beethoven of requirements as well as the venue – as Rus- op. 18 had also taken an enormous step. sian envoy at the imperial court in Vienna For the tender, “dolce” cello melody at he acted as host and patron to music the opening of the first quartet does not and musicians at his palatial house, until develop into a clear structure with flow- it and many invaluable works of art were ing transitions, but instead into a kaleido- destroyed during a fire on New Year’s Eve, scope of themes, motifs and moods that 1814. The second stimulus for the quartets only become accessible to the listener came from the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh after several performances. The sharp dis- who, together with his string quartet, set tinction between a prominent principal new standards in Vienna for instrumental theme and a lyrical secondary theme is virtuosity and interpretation. Until 1816 relinquished. Beethoven develops perma- the Schuppanzigh Quartet were engaged nently, accelerating the pulse in passages by Razumovsky. And Beethoven, who had such as the double fugue in the middle been on friendly terms with the quartet’s of the movement, or lifts them through leader for a long time, produced a double strangely floating chords.