Beethoven: String Quartets (The Complete 1982 Live Recordings)

Contents

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Grosse Fuge in B flat major, Op. 133

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

String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 ‘Rasumovsky No. 1’

String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 ‘Rasumovsky No. 2’

String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 ‘Rasumovsky No. 3’

String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major, Op. 74 ‘Harp’

String Quartet No. 11 in F minor Op. 95 ‘Serioso’

String Quartet No. 12 in E flat major, Op. 127

String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130

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

String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132

String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135

In the 1960s and in the decades following, the Budapest String Quartet’s mantle at Columbia was passed on to the Juilliard String Quartet. Over the years, with some changes in personnel, the ensemble repeatedly set down its famously lean, energetic and expressive interpretations of the Beethoven quartets in New York recording studios. These have remained catalogue staples. Less well known is the Beethoven cycle they recorded live in Washington at the Library of Congress in 1982. Gramophone singled out this complete traversal for its special depth and flexibility. Presented here on 9 albums, this is its first Sony release.