Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 3 Quartetto di Cremona

• 1I. Allegro ma non tanto08:39
• 2II. Andante scherzoso quasi allegretto07:01
• 3III. Menuetto. Allegretto - Trio03:37
• 4IV. Allegro - Prestissimo04:48
• 5Overtura. Allegro – Meno mosso e moderato15:13
• 6I. Allegro10:05
• 7II. Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando08:45
• 8III. Adagio molto e mesto12:16
• 9IV. Thème russe. Allegro08:06
• Total Runtime01:18:30

Info for Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 3

'The reviewer dares not interpret the meaning of the fugal finale: to him it seemed unfathomable, like Chinese.' Ludwig van Beethoven frequently aroused incomprehension amongst contemporaries with his late quartets. But no work seemed to his audience of 1826 as 'Chinese' as the monumental movement that Beethoven had composed in the seemingly familiar form of the fugue. Ever since, the 'Great Fugue' - originally the finale of the Quartet Op. 130 - has been surrounded by the nimbus of his extreme, almost impenetrable tenacity.

The Quartetto di Cremona have made the monumental Fugue Op. 133 the centerpiece of the third volume of their Complete Beethoven String Quartets recording series. The monolithic movement is flanked by two works from Beethoven's early and middle periods. The fourth Quartet of the first set, Op. 18, does not yet interpret the home key of C minor as fateful (as is the case later in the Fifth Symphony), but turns the quartet style of Beethoven's teacher Joseph Haydn towards the agitated. However, with the first Quartet of the revolutionary set of Op. 59, dedicated to the Russian Count Razumovsky, Beethoven looks far ahead into the future and composes a grandiose first movement, an expansive, sensitive Adagio and a finale in which he bows to his commissioner with a 'Thème russe'.

„Each volume of this evolving Beethoven quartet cycle from the Quartetto di Cremona usefully encompasses works from all three creative phases of the…“ (International Record Review)

„There’s no shortage of bite or energy in the third installment of the Cremona Quartet’s survey of Beethoven’s string quartets. The instruments speak with crisp articulation and the players don’t hold back in terms of vigor. This often makes for thrilling listening.…“ (The Strad)

Quartetto di Cremona

Quartetto di Cremona
Internationally renowned for their "extremely mature and lyrical sound" (Strad), the Quartetto di Cremona now graces the stages of the most prestigious venues. Their focus and intensity brings life to music from the “tight blend and immaculate voicing” of their Brahms to the “sleek and elegant” dynamic countouring of their Mozart (Strad). The Quartetto di Cremona’s dedication to their work as a string quartet shows through their music.

The Quartetto di Cremona formed in 2000 at the Stauffer Academy in Cremona and continued their studies with Hatto Beyerle. In 2005 the Quartetto di Cremona received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.

Building on their early successes, the Quartetto di Cremona has played to critical acclaim at the most important venues and festivals in Europe including at the Beethoven Haus and BeethovenFest Bonn, Konzerthaus (Berlin), Klara Festival (Brussels), Mecklenberg Vorpommen Music Festival, Båstad Chamber Music Festival, Turku Music Festival, Handelsbeurs (Gent), Moving on Music Festival (Northern Ireland, recorded by BBC Radio 3), and numerous performances at the Wigmore Hall (London).

The Quartetto di Cremona has toured extensively in Australia and performed at the renowned Perth International Art Festival Australia. In the USA, they recently won the eleventh Web Concert Hall Competition and they will perform at Metropolitan Museum in March 2013.

In their homeland of Italy they have made their name performing at the Accademia di S. Cecilia in Rome and at the most renowned Italian music societies. The Quartet was nominated "Artist in Residence" at the Societa' del Quartetto of Milan and will be involved in various projects culminating in 2014 for the 150th anniversary of the Societa' del Quartetto – when they will perform the complete cycle of Beethoven quartets.

Recent and forthcoming tours include engagements in the USA, Japan, Mexico and China and in Europe the Quartetto di Cremona will tour the UK, Italy, Scandinavia, Germany, and make a debut tour of Austria.

Their extensive repertoire ranges from the early Haydn quartets to Wolfgang Rihm and Helmut Lachenmann, with particular interest in contemporary Italian music including the composers Fabio Vacchi, Luciano Berio and Luigi Nono.

Their debut recording for Decca encompassed the complete string quartets by Fabio Vacchi, released in April 2011. From July 2012 over the next two seasons the Quartetto di Cremona will record the complete Beethoven String Quartets for the German label Audite, which also issued Italian Journey, dedicated to Italian composers in November 2012.

An important part of the Quartetto di Cremona’s activity is teaching master classes throughout Europe. Since Autumn 2011, the Quartet has taught at the Walter Stauffer Academy in Cremona.

The Quartetto di Cremona has been chosen as a testimonial of the International project "Friends of Stradivari".

This album contains no booklet.