Beethoven - String Quartet 7 [Lindsay String Quartet] Here's my favourite String Quartet, i played this just over a year ago, and wrote about it in my Blog [23rd January 2010], it just seems to be the perfect String Quartet for me, written in the key of F Major [The same key for his Symphonies 6 & 8], it's bright and happy on the whole, especially the first movement, but there's a wistful sadness intertwined in there too, unlike say Schubert's String Quartet 14 in D Minor, which deals with death, and is full of darkness and anger [my second favourite String Quartet], it's so good to acquaint myself with this 2 disc box set by the Lindsays.
The Lindsay String Quartet are from England, they closed up shop in 2005, after 40 years in the business, this Quartet was recorded in 1984, roughly halfway through their career, and they re-recorded the Beethoven Quartets at the end of their career.
My favourite movement for this work is the opening movement, it has a real sweep to it, the cello has such a joyous tune in getting this work going, no intros here, but straight to the heart of full flowing music, however on this listen i must admit that i was really affected by the second movement Allegretto Vivace e Sempre Scherzando, this movement descends into the strange-ish key of B Flat Major, used by Brahms for his Second Piano Concerto for instance, i find it an 'ambiguous' key, here Beethoven uses it as a vehicle for quite a fiercely driven piece of music, it has a sort of jumpiness about it, but also there's a degree of annoyance and turmoil, with outbursts that the Lindsay Quartet slightly overdo [0:32-0:38 & 1:42-1:51], it's certainly a piece which needs a great recording, as there's so much extremes in dynamics, at times the music has a forced sweetness to it [3:11-3:39], but you get the feeling that it's fake, as the real feelings of angry outbursts aren't far away [4:59-5:05 & 6:11-6:19], towards the end there's a short passage started by the cello [7:37-7:55], deep in its bass, but it rises, and the viola joins in, and they both rise, and the violins join in, until it becomes a high treble outburst!, a lovely idea, and immediately afterwards all the instruments play a short melody [8:00-8:04], but one string at a time, playing a game of tag, starting with treble violins and moving down to bass cello in quick succession, but then right after they all do the exact opposite [8:09-8:14], from bass cello to treble violins, a neat and musically satisfying idea, it's an emotional tour de force to fall in love with.
Here's the Talich String Quartet playing the second movement on YouTube.
