Beethoven: “Razumovsky” Quartets (Op.59, Nos.1-3)

Tokyo String Quartet

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The Beethoven boom continues apace. No other composer so completely defines our concert life in each important genre – symphonies, concertos, and chamber music – and no other is subject to such ongoing scrutiny of his life and his art. Indeed, with the passing of time and a deeper knowledge of historical incident has come increased appreciation of his breathtaking, path-breaking innovation. Perceived as unique in his own day, he remains so in ours.
Beethoven’s early training with Christian Gottlob Neefe affirmed his abilities; the first published notice he received, in 1783, applauded a “youthful genius” (Thayer’s Life of Beethoven, p. 66) and Neefe praised him as “unquestionably now one of the foremost pianoforte players” (Thayer, op. cit, p. 113). His inevitable migration from Bonn to Vienna – the Imperial capital and artistically pre-emminent – came in 1792, when he was 21 years old.

Haydn, we know, taught him briefly in a mutually unsatisfying relationship, and there also was tutelage with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Kapellmeister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the city’s foremost teacher of counterpoint, and with Imperial Kapellmeister Antonio Salieri. But nothing learnt from these men can directly account for the transformations he later wrought in how music was composed and how it was perceived. Although primarily known as keyboard virtuoso at first, as a soloist and improviser second to none Beethoven quickly won acknowledgement as the composer who would inherit the mantle of Classicism – nobody assimilated as fully the ethos of Mozart and Haydn. Yet, from the start of his Viennese career, he set about consciously to undermine the premises and practices of his artistic progenitors and redefine music’s most fundamental assumptions.

Beethoven arrived in the Austrian capital with a modest portfolio; his earliest Viennese works, however, already displayed those characteristics we associate with the mature composer: his “longrange control over bold harmonic action,” (Grove, Beethoven entry, p. 379), including melodic concision, rhythmic vigor, and rigorous motivic development.

Tracklist

Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.
1.
Quartet VII In F major, Op.59, No. 1 - I. Allegro
11:04
2.
Quartet VII In F major, Op.59, No. 1 - II. Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando
09:13
3.
Quartet VII In F major, Op.59, No. 1 - III. Adagio molto e mesto
12:18
4.
Quartet VII In F major, Op.59, No. 1 - IV. Theme russe: Allegro
08:06
5.
Quartet VIII In E major, Op.59, No. 2 - I. Allegro
10:14
6.
Quartet VIII In E major, Op.59, No. 2 - II. Molto adagio
12:27
7.
Quartet VIII In E major, Op.59, No. 2 - III. Allegretto
07:45
8.
Quartet VIII In E major, Op.59, No. 2 - IV. Finale: Presto
05:44
9.
Quartet IX In C major, Op.59, No. 3 - I. Introduzione: Andante con moto - Allegro vivace
10:43
10.
Quartet IX In C major, Op.59, No. 3 - II. Andante con moto quasi Allegretto
09:20
11.
Quartet IX In C major, Op.59, No. 3 - III. Menuetto: Grazioso
05:23
12.
Quartet IX In C major, Op.59, No. 3 - IV. Finale: Allegro molto
05:51

Total time: 01:48:08

Additional information

Label

SKU

HMU907423_24

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Original Recording Format

Producer

Robina G. Young

Recording Engineer

Brad Michel

Recording location

Skywalker Sound California USA

Recording Software

Pyramix

Recording Type & Bit Rate

DSD64

Release DateMay 24, 2014

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