Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Artemis Quartet
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Erato
Catalogue: 0708342
Release: 2011
Size: 367 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18 No. 5
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Menuetto & Trio
03. III. Andante cantabile
04. IV. Allegro
String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 18 No. 3
05. I. Allegro
06. II. Andante con moto
07. III. Allegro
08. IV. Presto
String Quartet No.16 in F major ‘Muss es sein? es muss sein!’ Op.135
09. I. Allegretto
10. II. Vivace
11. III. Lento assai e cantante tranquillo
12. IV. Grave ma non troppo tratto – Allegro
With this release of two early quartets and his last completed quartet, the Artemis Quartet rounds off its Beethoven cycle for Virgin Classics. “His music speaks to every era,” they say, “It is a perfect dialogue between tradition and modernity, and between intellectual refinement and raw emotion,”
Beethoven’s extraordinary musical evolution is traced in the cycle, which remains the touchstone of the quartet repertoire. The Artemis’ passionate engagement with the composer’s music was summarised by Die Zeit: “An ensemble that, when compared to groups on a similar level of perfection, seems to approach the repertoire from another horizon. Many quartets convey an air in their playing of rarefied workmanship and detached refinement from the world. They explore the music within the notes. The members of the Artemis come as people who live life, and life is what they seek in Beethoven too.”
