Beethoven's String Quartets, Part 2

After the Razumovsky quartets, there are two more that are considered as "middle" quartets.

The "Harp" quartet, Op. 74 in E flat major, is so named due to the use of pizzicato throughout the piece. Pizzicato is a technique where a string player, rather than bow the instrument, plucks the strings instead. I have to be very honest about this work: my experience of it is quite low, as it always puts me to sleep. I'm not sure what it is about this work that has such an effect on me, but it occurs in every movement. In trying to get to know it, I've tried starting each movement separately, but I go to night-night land each time. Sorry, but the blog is about experiences in encountering the music. This quartet puts me to sleep.

The last of the "middle" quartets is Op. 95, the so-called "Quartetto Serioso." As implied by the name, this quartet starts off in a very serious tone in F-minor. The notes that come with the CD collection calls these phrases "violent abruptions." In between these (in the first movement) there are explorations of themes, an occasional silence, and quiet, sometimes major mode variations. The second movement is more lyric. The third movement is a bit more agitated (marked serioso). The fourth begins with a "larghetto expressivo" that transitions to another agitated section that jumps into an ending allegro.

What's interesting about this quartet is how, at times, it seems like there are more than four performers. Beethoven is able to get a full sound, a kind of sound you would expect from a larger ensemble.

The "late"quartets consists of Ops. 127, 130, 131-133, and 135. The CD collection I've got is performances by the Guarneri Quartet.So far I've had a chance to really hear only Op. 132, a quartet in A minor, and the single movement Grosse Fugue. I found a performance of the quartet by the Alban Berg Quartet on YouTube in two parts, embedded below.





If you have listened to the Grosse Fugue performances, you've probably noticed the many dissonant passages. Many of Beethoven's contemporaries were very critical of the piece. To me, it sounds like the music that was written a century later.

The CD collection I have does not have the works played in numerical order, and the first CD contains the Op. 132 Quartet in A minor (as well as the Grosse Fugue). What struck me about the Opus 132 is the beautiful third movement.

The last two CD's contain the rest of the quartets, on which I will next concentrate.