Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets

Featuring

Corina Belcea-Fisher
Axel Schacher
Krzysztof Chorzelski
Antoine Lederlin
Belcea Quartet
Ludwig van Beethoven

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Interpretation

The Belcea Quartet describes their 'Beethoven year' (2011/2012) as a period where the composer's music became an all-consuming passion, requiring total engagement.

Instruments

Corina Belcea, the first violinist of the Belcea Quartet, plays a violin made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini in 1755, on loan from MERITO String Instruments Trusts Vienna.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The Belcea Quartet believes that the predominant impulse driving Beethoven's string quartet music is humanity's yearning for freedom and the desire to expand limits.

Critical Reception

Beethoven's string quartets have been considered the pinnacle of the genre for nearly two centuries and form the backbone of the chamber music repertoire.

Composer Biography

Beethoven began composing his first string quartets in his mid-twenties and completed his last quartet only five months before his death, spanning thirty years of his compositional career.

Recording & Production

This album, featuring the complete string quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven, was recorded live in concert across several dates in 2011 and 2012 at the Britten Studio, Snape.

Instruments

Antoine Lederlin, the cellist of the Belcea Quartet, plays a cello made by Matteo Gofriller in 1722, also on loan from MERITO String Instruments Trusts Vienna.