Presented by Leo Samama.
Beethoven composed the Quartet in E-flat (opus 74) in 1809, almost at the same time as the Fifth piano concert, some months after the armies of Napoleon had executed an extensive bombardment on Vienna in May. The French occupied the city for months and the gates were kept close. Only in the fall Beethoven was able to go outside again, making walks in the forest and visit the coffee house Beim goldenen Kreuz, as he joyously notes in the manuscript of the quartet. The Quartetto serioso, opus 95, which Beethoven completed a year later, marks the boundary between the works of the supposedly middle period and the late period. This time, the nickname belongs to Beethoven himself! Perhaps because of the third part, Allegro assai vivace ma serioso, a scherzo which is not a scherzo, because the tone is indeed not scherzando, but actually serious.
Beethoven 3
Beethoven – Quartet in E-flat, Opus 74, Harfenquartett
1. Poco adagio. Allegro – 2. Adagio ma non troppo – 3. Presto – 4. Allegretto con variazioni
Performers: Artemis Quartett,
CD: Erato
Beethoven – Quartet in F, Opus 95 ‘Serioso’, orchestrated by Mahler
1. Allegro con brio
Performers: Amsterdam Sinfonietta conducted by Lev Markiz
CD: BIS
Beethoven – Quartet in F, Opus 95 ‘Serioso’
2. Allegretto ma non troppo – 3. Allegro assai vivace ma serioso – 4. Larghetto espressivo. Allegretto agitato
Performers: Emerson String Quartet
CD: DGG
