Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 18 Nos. 4-6 Chiaroscuro Quartet

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18 No. 4:
• 1 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18 No. 4: I. Allegro, ma non tanto 08:25
• 2 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18 No. 4: II. Scherzo 06:25
• 3 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18 No. 4: III. Minuet 03:44
• 4 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18 No. 4: IV. Allegro 04:41
• String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18 No. 5:
• 5 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18 No. 5: I. Allegro 09:12
• 6 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18 No. 5: II. Minuet 04:09
• 7 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18 No. 5: III. Andante cantabile con variazioni 09:43
• 8 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18 No. 5: IV. Allegro 06:52
• String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18 No. 6:
• 9 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18 No. 6: I. Allegro con brio 08:26
• 10 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18 No. 6: II. Adagio, ma non troppo 06:22
• 11 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18 No. 6: III. Scherzo 02:51
• 12 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18 No. 6: IV. La malinconia 07:13
• Total Runtime 01:18:03

Info for Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 18 Nos. 4-6

"For a string player, Beethoven’s 16 quartets are of an importance similar to that of his sonatas to a pianist and for every composer of string quartets they remain a benchmark. The Chiaroscuro Quartet have begun their cycle of these works at the same place as Beethoven did, with the Op. 18 set which occupied him intensively for the best part of two years (1798 –1800). The effort he put into these quartets was surely due to the fact that he had much to live up to – they would after all be measured against those of Haydn and Mozart. Beethoven was clearly determined that the six quartets of the set should present the widest possible overview of his art. The Chiaroscuros released the first three in 2021 – a disc which was included among the finest new releases of the year in BBC’s Record Review. The present album opens with the only minor-key quartet of the six, No. 4 in C minor, which in the years that followed became Beethoven’s most popular quartet – to his growing irritation as he felt it overshadowed later works. In No. 5 in A major Beethoven follows closely in the footsteps of Mozart: its third movement and finale are in fact modelled on Mozart’s quartet in the same key (K 464), which Beethoven had copied out before he began work on his own quartet. With No. 6 in B flat major it is rather Haydn that we see hovering in the background: for instance his way of making witty capital out of the most elementary material or the rhythmic games in the third movement Scherzo."

Chiaroscuro Quartet

Chiaroscuro Quartet
Formed in 2005, the Chiaroscuro Quartet performs music of the Classical period with historical instruments and approach.

Recently the quartet played their first concert at the Edinburgh International Festival followed by their debut in Germany as part of the Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Highlights in the past took the young ensemble to London's Wigmore Hall, York Early Music Centre, The Sage Gateshead (recorded for BBC Radio 3), Auditorium du Louvre Paris, Théâtre du Jeu-de-Paume in Aix-en-Provence, Grand Théâtre de Dijon, Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon and a residency in Aldeburgh.

Following the critically acclaimed release of their first album in September 2011, the Chiaroscuro Quartet released its second recording for the French label Aparté in April 2013. The CD including Beethoven's Quartetto serioso, Mozart's Quartet K. 428 and Adagio and Fugue K. 546 received four out of four possible f in the French magazine Télérama and was given the best note for its interpretation in Germany's major magazine for chamber music Ensemble.

In the coming months the quartet will return to the BBC Radio 3 for a lunchtime concert in London and appear on stage of the Nikolaisaal Potsdam and Kunstverein Wiesloch. Concerts in the Netherlands (Concertgebouw Amsterdam), Belgium (Ghent, Handelsbeurs Concertzaal), France (Clermont-Ferrand and Pau) and Spain (Madrid and Bilbao) are scheduled for early 2014.

Since 2009 the Quartet has held a residency at Port-Royal-des-Champs dedicated to Mozart's quartets.

Booklet for Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 18 Nos. 4-6