# Beethoven SQ #15 in A minor (op. 132)



## science

This is a work I love very much, but I'm curious to hear other people's opinions of it. What do you like about it? Is there anything you don't like about it?


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## Ukko

Op. 132 has the feel of an edifice built around the "Heiliger Dankgesang". How much I enjoy listening depends on how well the ensemble handles, um, passionate restraint - and how recently I have heard the work.

The Vermeer Quartet, for instance, gets very near the edge of 'too thankful' territory. The Yale Quartet displays a collectively stiffer upper lip, but their gestalt isn't as solid as the Vermeer's.

Somehow, maybe by collecting complete sets of the late quartets, I have gotten into the habit of listening to all of them, in the sequence in which they were composed, one per day. If I preface that sequence with one of the earlier quartets, say from Op. 59, Op. 127 works as an introduction to 'a new way of making music'.


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## ScipioAfricanus

This quartet is one of my favorites of Beethoven.


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## Manxfeeder

It's one of my favorites also. The part-writing of the Heiliger Dankesang is what spurred me to explore Obrecht and other Renaissance composers.


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## jurianbai

have been posted in other thread but here the video talks about SQ no.15.


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## Manxfeeder

jurianbai said:


> have been posted in other thread but here the video talks about SQ no.15.


Interesting. Thanks.


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## Keikobad

The late quartets and I have a peculiar relationship. I can't say that I'm always eager to listen to them; but the moment will announce itself (and this without any regularity) and I must embark on an obsessive survey of each. It's a question of timing for me.

The Op. 59's are another story; I listen to them all the time. Currently, I'm enthralled by the Takacs Qt.


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## Quartetfore

A great work of course, but not my favorite. For me, the most satisfying of the "last quartets" is still and always has been is the Op127.


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## djmomo17

It took me a while to get into the Heiliger Dankgesang but after watching the video mentioned above and doing serious listening to it - it really is one of my favorites now. Also 132 Movement 5 has one of Beethoven's most beautiful melodies...OPus 131 is my favorite of the late quartets but 132 is timeless.

I wrote about the Heiliger Dankgesang on my blog a while back here....


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## Weston

Like djmomo, I had to watch the video link a while back to really appreciate the 3rd movement. To me the themes are not terribly interesting in themselves, but Beethoven's handling of them is. That doesn't make it very listenable without a little help. The alternation between painfully slow with short bursts of rapid phrases seems awkward in most performances -- not seamless. Maybe I need to hear a really good interpretation. 

I much prefer the Op. 130 using the Grosse Fuge as the final movement.


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## Head_case

It's lovely to see the St Lawrence String Quartet leading the playing here. 

Their performance of Christos Hatzis' fiery string quartet works is really commendable, for anyone who is interested in more contemporary music, rather than the old classics like their Beethoven set. I can hear a choo choo train blasting through the performance with urgency. 

Kapilow really spells out the detail in a very American and exaggerated/detailed way. It's almost a shocker to listen to his erudite expo on such beautiful and gentle music.


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## Fugue Meister

Op. 132 was the hardest of the late quartet for me to enjoy but now I can't go a week without listening to it. I have a habit of cycling through the late quartets everyday so I hear Op. 127, 130, 131, 132, and 135 all week long.


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