Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 95, 127, 130, 131, 132, 135; Grosse Fugue Op. 133

one approaches any new

recording of Beethoven’s late

quartets with such high expectations

that it feels like a minor miracle

if a performance lives up to them

even half the time. There were

a few moments during Op. 127

where I wondered if the Tak‡cs

couldn’t have made a little more

of this phrase or that detail. But

what matters most is the overall

impression, and I’ve rarely heard a

version of this Quartet where there

was such a magisterial inevitability

about the ending; after that you’d

Our rating

5

Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:54 pm

COMPOSERS: Beethoven
LABELS: Decca
ALBUM TITLE: Beethoven String Quartets
WORKS: String Quartets Op. 95, 127, 130, 131, 132, 135; Grosse Fugue Op. 133
PERFORMER: Takacs Quartet
CATALOGUE NO: 470 849-2

one approaches any new



recording of Beethoven’s late



quartets with such high expectations



that it feels like a minor miracle



if a performance lives up to them



even half the time. There were



a few moments during Op. 127



where I wondered if the Tak‡cs



couldn’t have made a little more



of this phrase or that detail. But



what matters most is the overall



impression, and I’ve rarely heard a



version of this Quartet where there



was such a magisterial inevitability



about the ending; after that you’d



have to be really mean-spirited to



carp about minutiae. Then comes



Op. 131, and right from the first



phrase – full of contained feeling,



the climactic accent beautifully



judged – you know this is going to



be a great performance. If the Takács



makes less of the first movement



climax than some ensembles, that’s



only because it so clearly sees this as



the first stage in a long journey – a



process that isn’t complete until the



brusque final chords.



Time after time the Takács seems



to get things just right: rhythms taut



and muscular but also capable of



expressive freedom; tempos spacious



enough in the slow movements of



Opp. 132 and 135 without being



too reverentially slow (though



watch out for a tiny harmonic



surprise near the end of the latter



– a new reading?). And each work



is clearly conceived whole, even the



enigmatic Op. 95 – chronologically



not a ‘late’ quartet, but so close in spirit that its inclusion here also



feels just right. Excellent recordings,



too: sonorous, and with well-judged



sense of four-voices-in-one. It



doesn’t feel at all risky to say that this is probably the finest modern set



of these great quartets. Stephen Johnson

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