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Beethoven - Early String Quartets

£19.97

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Label: Challenge Classics

Cat No: CC72969

Barcode: 0608917296921

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 3

Genre: Chamber

Release Date: 7th June 2024

Works

Beethoven, Ludwig van

String Quartet no.1 in F major, op.18 no.1
String Quartet no.2 in G major, op.18 no.2
String Quartet no.3 in D major, op.18 no.3
String Quartet no.4 in C minor, op.18 no.4
String Quartet no.5 in A major, op.18 no.5
String Quartet no.6 in B flat major, op.18 no.6

Artists

Narratio Quartet

Works

Beethoven, Ludwig van

Artists

Narratio Quartet

About

The first volume of Beethoven's String Quartets survey by Narratio Quartet comprises the Six Quartets, op.18. The Narratio Quartet play on period instruments and also assume a radical position towards performance practice including the revival of long-time neglected attitudes: a more flexible concept of tempo, a restrained and cautious use of vibrato, the portamento as the main expressive tool. Two more boxes will follow: the Middle String Quartets and the Late String Quartets.

'I have often wondered which of the "great spirits" might provide a new impulse and a different direction for what we call classical music in this early part of the twenty- first century. Narratio Quartet have been immersed in all of Beethoven's string quartets for over fifteen years now. We experience time and again how Beethoven explored and then overcame the limits of the Classical style and the instrumental difficulties that were prevalent at the start of the nineteenth century. What we hear has been enriched by the passing of two centuries and the gaining of wider experience. Progress indeed, might be your first thought, but perhaps we have also lost something along the way? The ability to feel how groundbreaking and visionary this music was in those days. My colleagues and I feel that using instruments that are comparable to those of the time has helped us enormously in getting somewhat closer to the surprise, the bewilderment and the rapture that the musicians in Schuppanzigh's quartet must have felt when they first came face to face with the newest and most innovative chamber music of the day.' - Viola de Hoog