It’s the opening to the slow movement from Quartet No. 16, Opus 135, in which Beethoven wrote in the score, “Must It Be? -- It Must Be!” Each instrument enters one at a time to create a gorgeous ...

Beethoven's three "Razumovsky" string quartets left both their first performers and the public shocked and suspicious. The violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, whose quartet premiered the Opus 59 works, ...

When we finally see the return of concerts, shared experiences by full audiences, everyone together, the moment will be less for fireworks than for thanksgiving. Let us begin, then, with Beethoven as ...

The Calidore String Quartet reflect on the importance of Beethoven's quartets in their lives Beethoven’s music has been an integral part of our quartet since the beginning. In our first reading ...

The world doesn’t need yet another recording of Beethoven’s string quartets, you might argue, but this terrific cycle from the Elias String Quartet demonstrates how fresh, probing and confrontational ...

The greatness of Beethoven cast a long shadow. It was Brahms whose First Symphony was long delayed by the intensity with which the composer felt “the tramp of such a giant behind you”. And the shadow ...