Narratio Quartet - Beethoven: Late String Quartets [CD]

Cat. no: CC72982
Format: CD
Barcode: 0608917298222
Release Date: 16 May 2025
Genre: Classical

The last instalment in the Narratio Quartet's revolutionary interpretation of Beethoven's String Quartets

This last 4CD box contains all the late Quartets, from opus 95 to opus 135.

Viola de Hoog: My colleagues in the Narratio Quartet and I have been immersed in all of Beethoven's string quartets for over ffteen years now. We experience time and again how Beethoven explored and then overcame the limits of the Classical style and the instrumental challenges that were prevalent at the start of the nineteenth century along new pathways. Opus 95 is a great example of exactly this. Beethoven himself stated in a letter to Sir George Smart, at the time an important musician in England, "The Quartet is written for a small circle of connoisseurs and is never to be performed in public." Each of the fve late quartets, from Opus 127 onwards, explores new forms, modulating to remotely distant keys, presenting hitherto unprecedented melodic arches and containing what were, at the time, unusually detailed dynamic instructions; different ways in which Beethoven was tearing himself away from the familiar style of the day.Beethoven composed these fve quartets in a remarkably brief period, between 1824 and 1826.
On volume 2 (Middle Quartets, CC 72981):

Fanfare (USA): "This is a truly special release that fully lives up to the promise of the Narratio Quartet's op. 18. It is a necessary purchase for all Beethovenians."

On volume 1(Early Quartets, CC 72969):
BBC Music Magazine (UK): "There is much to enjoy in the quartet's poised and stylish playing".

Tracks: String Quartet Op. 95 in F Minor - I. Allegro con brio / II. Allegretto ma non troppo / III. Allegro assai vivace ma serioso / IV. Larghetto espressivo. Allegretto agitato / String Quartet Op. 127 in E-fat Major - I. Maestoso. Allegro / II. Adagio ma non troppo e molto cantabile / III. Scherzo. Vivace / IV. Finale / String Quartet Op. 130 in B- fat Major - I. Adagio ma non troppo. Allegro / II. Presto / III. Poco scherzoso, Andante con moto ma non troppo / IV. Alla Danza tedesca, Allegro assai / V. Cavatina, Adagio molto espressivo / Grande Fugue Op. 133 / New Finale for String Quartet Op. 130 in B-fat Major / String Quartet Op. 132 in A Minor - I. Assai sostenuto. Tempo Allegro / II. Allegro ma non tanto / III. Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart / V. Alla marcia, assai vivac / V. Allegro appassionato / String Quartet Op. 131 in C-sharp Minor - I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo / II. Allegro molto vivace / III. Allegro moderato / IV. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile / Allegretto / Adagio ma non troppo e semplice / Allegretto / V. Presto / VI. Adagio quasi un poco andante / VII. Allegro / String Quartet Op. 135 in F Major - I. Allegretto / II. Vivace / III. Assai lento, cantante e tranquillo / IV. Der schwer gefabte Entschlub Grave, ma non troppo tratto. Allegro