The Summer, by Caspar David Friedrich (1807)

String Quartet no.9 in C major Op.59/3 ‘Razumovsky’ (1806, Beethoven aged 35)

Dedication Count (later Prince) Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky
Duration 32’

1.Andante con moto – Allegro vivace
2.Andante con moto quasi allegretto
3.Menuetto: Grazioso
4.Allegro molto

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written by Ben Hogwood

Background and Critical Reception

The third of Beethoven’s ‘Razumovsky’ quartets provides the light to the relative darkness of its predecessor, set in sunny C major in contrast to E minor. Jan Swafford documents it as ‘another of the 1806 works written at a gallop. Like the Fourth Symphony and the Violin Concerto, it is absolutely of a piece and a splendid piece, but more compact in material than its colleagues in the set, with less complex interrelations than the others. It conservative elements, however, do not imply a retreat to the eighteenth century. All the Razumovskys are distinctive pilgrims on Beethoven’s New Path.

The celebrated musicologist Carl Dahlhaus devotes more time to this ‘Razumovsky’ quartet than the other two in his book Beethoven: Approaches to his Music, sharing Ludwig Fincher’s view of the piece ‘as a reflection, from a composer’s point of view, of the social position of the string quartet in the years following 1800.’

For Dahlhaus, “the quartet makes use of symphonic or concertante means as a way of presenting itself to the general public, but at the same time it incorporates those same means in a skilled artistic construction that only connoisseurs can appreciate.” Swafford has the emphatic last word. “For Beethoven’s part, having cleared his throat with op.18, with op.59 he was ready to stand up to his predecessors and models, ready to prove he was their equal on their home ground.”

Thoughts

There is a mysterious introduction to this work that – for this listener at least – harks back to the uncertainty of Mozart’s string quartet in the same key, known as the Dissonance. The harmony is not so otherworldly here but there is still an atmosphere of uncertainty, one set right by the start of the Allegro, even though Beethoven’s genial theme doesn’t immediately set down roots in C major. It does however start off a highly attractive Allegro section, where the quartet enjoys the fulsome writing, while songful and virtuoso exchanges comfortably exist side by side.

The Andante has roots in A minor, C major’s closest ‘relative’, but moves around a little restlessly. There is the spirit of a slow dance but one that never fully settles, as though the first violin is changing partners at irregular intervals. The cello offers a rhythmic base and counterpoint through pizzicato figures.

The Menuetto (not marked as a Scherzo) has a grace one might associate with Haydn, from one of the Op.33 quartets, the melodies freely passing between instruments as the music flows beautifully. This is the ‘chamber’ Beethoven, whereas the finale – following seamlessly without a break – is definitely the ‘public’ Beethoven. Here he is showing off in the best possible way, with a full-blown fugue showing a complete mastery of the form. It generates a terrific energy which must have been a whole new experience for the first audiences. The quartet ends with a flourish, and you can imagine Ignaz Schuppanzigh bowing for all he was worth in the first performance before collapsing in a heap at the end!

Recordings used and Spotify links

Melos Quartet (Wilhelm Melcher and Gerhard Voss (violins), Hermann Voss (viola), Peter Buck (cello) (Deutsche Grammophon)
Borodin String Quartet (Ruben Aharonian, Andrei Abramenkov (violins), Igor Naidin (viola), Valentin Berlinsky (cello) (Chandos)
Takács Quartet (Edward Dusinberre, Károly Schranz (violins), Roger Tapping (viola), Andras Fejér (Decca)
Tokyo String Quartet (Peter Oundjian, Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola), Sadao Harada (cello) (BMG)
Végh Quartet (Sándor Végh, Sándor Zöldy (violins), Georges Janzer (viola) & Paul Szabo (cello) (Valois)
Amadeus String Quartet (Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel (violins), Peter Schidlof (viola), Martin Lovett (cello)

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1806 Hummel 12 Minuets

Next up tbc

Published post no.2,139 – Friday 5 April 2024

Dolmen in snow, by Caspar David Friedrich (1807)

String Quartet no.8 in E minor Op.59/2 ‘Razumovsky’ (1806, Beethoven aged 35)

Dedication Count (later Prince) Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky
Duration 38’

1.Allegro
2.Molto adagio ‘Si tratta questo pezzo con molto di sentimento’
3.Allegretto (second section marked ‘Maggiore – Thème russe’
4.Finale. Presto

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written by Ben Hogwood

Background and Critical Reception

Beethoven is thought to have written the three Razumovsky string quartets between April and November 1806 – during which he redefined the parameters of a form shaped by Haydn and Mozart. When you stop to consider he was working on the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Violin Concerto and the Fourth Symphony at the time, it offers some perspective on his capabilities as a composer!

The first ‘Razumovsky quartet’ in F major drew parallels to the Eroica symphony, but the second is a very different work, set in E minor – a key seen by Lewis Lockwood to be “a bleak and distant key in the tonal system of the period”. As Jan Swafford goes on to note, “The beginning is as curiously fragmentary as the previous quartet’s was curiously sustained. The feeling of the minor mode here is not tragic but mysterious, with startling harmonic jumps.”

As for the second movement, contemporary composer and friend Carl Czerny recalled Beethoven saying that the E-major slow movement fell into his mind “when contemplating the starry sky and thinking about the music of the spheres”.

Thoughts

There is high drama in the first movement of this quartet, the polar opposite to its predecessor. The sweep of the first two chords is unlike anything we have heard in Beethoven’s music for string quartet to date – the first chord with 9 notes, the second with 7. Together they make a gesture whose impact is felt throughout the work, and the follow-up – a kind of stunned statement – also carries thematic importance.

The first movement moves between this loud dynamic and soft, dramatic responses, the atmosphere tense and febrile. Whenever the intensity grows the chords reappear in different guises, and there are some striking discords as the movement heads to its thoughtful close.

The slow movement is placed second, a much richer affair than the first quartet – but equally expressive, the four instruments showing off a very full bodied sound at climactic points. Again, slow music for Beethoven has a heavenly air in its stillness – though a central section disturbs this piece with harsh double stopped violin, imparting the atmosphere of the first movement.

The scherzo is both elegant and serious to begin with, though at times becomes full-bodied and heavy. The trio, on the other hand, is light footed, its perky tune shared between the instruments. The finale’s dotted rhythms provide the backing for a folksy tune on the violin, with the unmistakable feeling of turning for home. Though starting in C major, E minor is the obvious destination, and so it proves with music of terrific power and poise. It’s easy to forget just four instruments are involved!

This is further evidence of Beethoven’s total reimagining of the string quartet, elevating the medium to a higher and much more ambitious plane. Each quartet is now a fully fledged drama, with a huge dynamic range and more meaningful emotions than we have yet heard from any composer.

Recordings used and Spotify links

Melos Quartet (Wilhelm Melcher and Gerhard Voss (violins), Hermann Voss (viola), Peter Buck (cello) (Deutsche Grammophon)
Borodin String Quartet (Ruben Aharonian, Andrei Abramenkov (violins), Igor Naidin (viola), Valentin Berlinsky (cello) (Chandos)
Takács Quartet (Edward Dusinberre, Károly Schranz (violins), Roger Tapping (viola), Andras Fejér (Decca)
Tokyo String Quartet (Peter Oundjian, Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola), Sadao Harada (cello) (BMG)
Végh Quartet (Sándor Végh, Sándor Zöldy (violins), Georges Janzer (viola) & Paul Szabo (cello) (Valois)
Amadeus String Quartet (Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel (violins), Peter Schidlof (viola), Martin Lovett (cello)

The quartets listed above rise to the technical challenge offered by Beethoven, each one capturing the symphonic structure and scope of the piece. The Amadeus Quartet deliver a heartfelt if slightly glossy reading, while those by the Tokyo, Borodin and Melos Quartets are ideally poised and played. The Végh Quartet is a classic recording.

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1806 Wölfl Piano Concerto no.5 ‘Grand Concerto Militaire’ Op.43

Next up String Quartet no.9 in C major Op.59/3 ‘Razumovsky’

Published post no.2,138 – Thursday 4 April 2024

Sea beach with fisherman (The fisherman), by Caspar David Friedrich (1807)

String Quartet no.7 in F major Op.59/1 ‘Razumovsky’ (1806, Beethoven aged 35)

Dedication Count (later Prince) Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky
Duration 40’

1.Allegro
2.Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando
3.Adagio molto e mesto – attacca
4.Thème Russe: Allegro

Listen

written by Ben Hogwood

Background and Critical Reception

In 1801, Beethoven published his first group of string quartets, the six quartets Op.18 confirming his prowess in yet another form of music – while suggesting he had the potential to take this form much further.

Just five years on, that potential was realised in dramatic fashion through a set of three substantial string quartets dedicated to the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Andreas Razumovsky. The new works were nearly half as long again as the Op.18 set, and showed many ways in which the string quartet was challenging the boundaries of its very form.

To help communicate his new ideas Beethoven had at his disposal the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, in the words of the Grove Dictionary “the first musician in history to make his main reputation as a chamber-music specialist”. Jan Swafford notes how “this portly, silly-looking violinist was the indispensable partner in Beethoven’s remaking of the medium…Schuppanzigh and his men allowed Beethoven to take quartets wherever he wanted to go with them.”

It is thought Beethoven wrote the three Razumovsky quartets between April and November 1806. They are, as Swafford observes, ‘the most symphonic quartets to that time, harder on both players and listeners than any quartet before’.

Several commentators liken the impact of the first quartet in the set to that of the Eroica symphony. There are musical parallels for sure – the elevation of the cello to take on the first theme, the resolute and optimistic mood of the first movement, the willingness to stretch the structure like never before, pushing the tolerance of players and audiences.

Thoughts

The cello’s heightened role is immediately evident as the instrument leads of with the main theme – not just any theme, but an expressive, lyrical one giving it a whole new importance in the quartet. Nor is the theme dissimilar to the first movement of the Eroica, though the mood is less bullish.

There is an assurance about Beethoven’s writing, a kind of inner serenity as the musical dialogue unfolds, and also a sense that the real drama is still to come. His writing is so fluent in the first movement, each melody seemingly inevitable and with a really strong sense of unity between the quartet members. The middle of the movement becomes more mysterious, the first violin with a figuration suggesting a bird on the wing as the other quartet members engage in dialogue of the theme.

The second movement begins with a remarkably innocuous statement on the cello, a single note rhythmic figure – but of course Beethoven makes something distinctive out of it, like a subtle but insistent knocking on the door. By the time the full quartet play it, we have a fully fledged tune and enough energy to power the whole of the scherzo. The music then goes for a ‘wander’, Beethoven exploring all manner of far flung tonal areas with an appealing wit. The rhythmic and melodic figures with which the movement began are always kept in mind, however, and before we know it the original key has returned.

The slow movement is very solemn, sorrowful even, its theme played mournfully by the first violin on a supportive bed of thick harmony. Yet there is strength in that supporting playing, which comes through in powerful dialogue between the violins and a touching elegiac theme on viola. There is a very tender passage halfway through, beautiful but tinged with sadness in D flat major before working its way back.

The slow movement leads beautifully into the finale, whereupon the sun ‘reappears’, the cello once again starting an upbeat, dance-inflected theme. This is the most playful music we have heard so far, as though Beethoven has shaken off his troubled feelings for the time being. In a master stroke in the coda he brings the main theme back at half speed, implying a solemn finish – before a gust of wind blows the main theme back through at a rate, and over the finish line.

Recordings used and Spotify links

Melos Quartet (Wilhelm Melcher and Gerhard Voss (violins), Hermann Voss (viola), Peter Buck (cello) (Deutsche Grammophon)
Borodin String Quartet (Ruben Aharonian, Andrei Abramenkov (violins), Igor Naidin (viola), Valentin Berlinsky (cello) (Chandos)
Takács Quartet (Edward Dusinberre, Károly Schranz (violins), Roger Tapping (viola), Andras Fejér (Decca)
Tokyo String Quartet (Peter Oundjian, Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola), Sadao Harada (cello) (BMG)
Végh Quartet (Sándor Végh, Sándor Zöldy (violins), Georges Janzer (viola) & Paul Szabo (cello) (Valois)
Amadeus String Quartet (Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel (violins), Peter Schidlof (viola), Martin Lovett (cello)

There are some finely cultivated versions of the first ‘Razumovsky’ quartet on record. It is a shame that Quatuor Mosaïques did not get as far as the set, given the quality of their Op.18 interpretations, but any of the quartets below will more than satisfy. The Melos and Takács spend more time over the slow movement, but generally speeds are similar.

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1806 Weber Concertino for horn and orchestra

Next up String Quartet no.8 in E minor Op.59/2 ‘Razumovsky’