Octo_Russ

Beethoven - String Quartet 7 [Quartetto Italiano]

Here's my favourite String Quartet of all [though Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden' may give it a run for its money], played by the Quartetto Italiano, in a lovely triple disc boxed set, the Quartetto Italiano are no longer together, disbanding thirty years ago, and yet they still have a phenomenal legacy that is still felt to this day, on this recording the personnel are as follows,

Paolo Borciani - First Violin

Elisa Pegreffi - Second Violin

Piero Farulli - Viola

Franco Rossi - Cello

My favourite movement is the first, nothing beats that irresistible forward momentum surge, but yet this time i really felt the second movement tug at my heart, it's got a lot of tension in it, even anger at some points, one of the noticeable features of this movement, is that many times the tune is passed around each of the players, rather like a plate of sausage rolls are passed around!, everyone dips in and has a go, the violin may start a tune, which the viola continues, and then the cello finishes, or a myriad of other combinations, the interplay is breathtaking at times, or you could liken it to a relay race with the baton passed around.

There's lots to enjoy, the whole movement comes in little bursts here and there, just over a third of the way through, there's this fugue played [3:38-4:25], it starts very forte, but turns into some nice little treble ideas [3:57+], there's some very nice forte interplay later [6:03-6:14], immediately followed by some very strong momentum [6:16-6:34], right at the very end, there's some very nice final thoughts from Beethoven [8:28-8:56], notice a change over of ideas at [8:35], the transition of which is perfectly executed by the Italians, and a final forte statement of the main idea [8:49+], Beethoven is a genius!.

Here's the Highbury Quartet playing the second movement on YouTube.