Beethoven - String Quartet 10 'Harp' [Quartetto Italiano]Here's a nice surprise!, a box set of Beethoven's Middle String Quartets, i listened to this whole set over a few days, my favourite by far is String Quartet 7 [Op57/1], but this time i was wowed by Quartet 10 even more, this was surprising for me, i'm developing a greater love for those Quartets that are a bit more unknown to me.
I love this boxset, 3 discs of the Middle String Quartets, the middle are my favourites, available cheaply re-issued elsewhere, the original boxset is quite rare now, i like the photo [Arje Plas] taken from a high angle, these are treasurable recordings from the early to mid seventies.
The Quartetto Italiano were one of the greatest String Quartets ever, they recorded prolifically for the Philips label, started in 1945 they disbanded in 1980.
All of the movements were a revelation to me, with the exception of the third, i suppose it's the opening movement which inspired me the most, the key is in E Flat Major, Beethoven's 'Heroic' voice, it has a long Poco Adagio introduction [0:00-2:18], which starts off very hesitantly, as if the players are unsure, with loud outbursts here and there, so when the songlike Allegro comes in [2:19+], it feels like a huge release, an untying of a knot that Beethoven has formed, there's such sweet playing from the violins, and afterward some nice pizzicato [2:19-2:46], this is repeated later [3:44-4:12], and is a joy to hear all over again, later there's some forte/virtuoso playing, with fast bowing on the main tune [5:35-6:00] really thrilling, there's a very inventive passage with lots of pizzicato spread around [7:10-7:33], first the violins bow while the viola/cello pluck, then the viola/cello bow while the violins pluck, this is repeated a second time, and it's so very satisfying, right at the end a violin has some very fast and agitated playing [9:06-9:47], while the rest of the Quartet pizzicato from bass to treble through all the instruments three times, the violin gets stronger while the rest of the group slowly disband pizzicato to bowing, the music gets more and more majestic to a great apotheosis, a wonderful final climax, it's the sweet songlike-ness after the intro that is so much of a lovely release that i remember the most.
Here's the Claudel String Quartet playing the first movement on YouTube.
