# TC Listening Club Week 2: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor (Beethoven)



## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

YouTube LINKS

There are several recordings of this work on YouTube, so browse away. Given the subject of the first week's discussion, I thought it appropriate to select a recording by the Borodin Quartet. The second link is a live performance by the Alban Berg Quartet.

BORODIN QUARTET






ALBAN BERG QUARTET






There also exists a recording by the Orion String Quartet available on the IMSLP.

http://imslp.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No.15,_Op.132_(Beethoven,_Ludwig_van)

PURCHASE OPTIONS

Here are some available purchasing options. There are many. Any additions to this list are welcome:

BOXED SETS

Beethoven Complete String Quartets (Alban Berg Quartett) (EMI)
Beethoven: Late String Quartets (Alban Berg Quartett) (EMI)
Beethoven: The Late String Quartets (Busch Quartet) (EMI)
Beethoven: Late String Quartets (Emerson String Quartet) (Decca)
Beethoven: Complete String Quartets (Quartetto Italiano) (Decca)

DISCS CONTAINING THIS WEEK'S PIECE

Beethoven String Quartets Vol. 7 (Kodaly Quartet) (Naxos)
Beethoven: The Late Quartets Vol. 2 (Quartetto Italiano) (Phillips)

OTHER INFORMATION

The Wikipedia article has some good information here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._15_(Beethoven)

(The following taken from program notes written by Dr. Richard Rodda for a performance by the Orion String Quartet).

On November 9, 1822, Prince Nikolas Galitzin, a devotee of Beethoven's music and an amateur cellist, wrote from St. Petersburg asking Beethoven for "one, two or three quartets, for which labor I will be glad to pay you whatever amount you think proper." Beethoven was elated by the commission, and he immediately accepted it and set the fee of 50 ducats for each quartet, a high price, but one readily accepted by Galitzin. The music, however, took somewhat longer. The Ninth Symphony was completed in February 1823, but Beethoven, exhausted, was unable to begin Galitzin's quartets until May. "I am really impatient to have a new quartet of yours," badgered Galitzin. "Nevertheless, I beg you not to mind and to be guided in this only by your inspiration and the disposition of your mind." The first of the quartets for Galitzin (E-flat major, Op. 127) was not completed until February 1825; the second (A minor, Op. 132) was finished five months later; and the third (B-flat major, Op. 130) was written between July and November, during one of the few periods of relatively good health that Beethoven enjoyed in his last decade.

The Op. 132 Quartet was the product of the difficult first months of 1825. Beethoven had begun sketching the piece by the end of the previous year, but before he could progress very far with it, he was stricken with a serious intestinal inflammation, a frequent bane of his later years. "I am not feeling well," he complained to Dr. Anton Braunhofer on April 18th. "I hope that you will not refuse to come to my help, for I am in great pain." Braunhofer was alarmed by the composer's condition, and gave him strict advice: "No wine; no coffee; no spices of any kind.... I'll wager that if you take a drink of spirits, you'll be lying weak and exhausted on your back in a few hours." The physician also recommended a recuperation in the country to allow for the plentiful imbibing of "fresh air" and "natural milk." Beethoven had recovered sufficiently by May 7th to repair to the distant Viennese suburb of Baden, and remained there - with occasional visits to the city - until mid-October. It was at Baden that the A minor Quartet was largely written.

Beethoven's illness and recovery touch directly on the music of the Quartet, which takes as its centerpiece a magnificent Adagio titled "A Sacred Song of Thanks from One Made Well, to the Divine; in the Lydian Mode." Though not specifically programmatic, the Quartet, whose overall structure follows the minor-to-major, dark-to-light progression familiar from the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, evidences what Joseph de Marliave called "the habitual state of mind of the composer: the fight against destiny, the triumph of joy over pain." Maynard Solomon observed that "music here appears to become an implicit agency of healing, a talisman against death."

Basil Lam summarized the structural logic of the A minor Quartet in the following manner: "No other composition in all Beethoven's works shows the unintegrated contrasts of this Quartet. Once he had become possessed by the unique vision of the Heiliger Dankgesang [' Holy Song of Thanks' ], no solution of the formal problem was available other than to surround it with sound images united only by their total diversity." The Adagio , then, is not only the central element in the five-movement structure of the Quartet, but is also its expressive heart. The movement's form alternates varied versions of a hymnal theme of otherworldly stillness based on the ancient church modes with a more rhythmically dynamic strain marked "feeling new strength," a technique also used in the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies. The Heiliger Dankgesang is one of the most rapturous creations in 19th-century music.

To support a slow movement of such magnitude requires surrounding music of considerable breadth and emotional weight, and Beethoven chose to precede it with a large sonata form and a fully developed scherzo-and-trio. The opening movement, craggy and sometimes even belligerently willful in its progress, is based on several terse ideas presented in the exposition: a slow-moving motive in melodic half-steps; a melancholy violin line with dotted rhythms; a playful little imitative episode that serves as the formal second theme; and a more lyrical strain presented by the violins above a galloping triplet accompaniment. There is a brief development section, mostly based on the half-step motive and the melancholy melody, before the apparent recapitulation of the themes begins. Though the themes are presented in proper order and balance, they are not adjusted as to key, and another full recapitulation, suitably transposed, is required before the movement can end. The long scherzo, in A major, developed almost entirely from the violin motive heard in the fifth measure, is paired with a central trio whose flowing themes are often rhythmically displaced.

Beethoven followed the transcendent Heiliger Dankgesang with one of his most glaring formal incongruities - a little march of four-square structure whose emotional blandness provides an almost shocking descent from the exalted realms of the Adagio . This movement lasts only a short time, however, and it is linked to the finale by an instrumental recitative, as Beethoven had done in the Ninth Symphony. The last movement, in fact, is based on a theme that he had originally intended for that Symphony, but which here becomes the subject for a vast sonata-rondo that gains the hard-won, victorious luminosity of A major in its closing pages.


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

UPCOMING

The schedule for the next four Listen Club sessions are:

WEEK 3: Symphony No. 5 (Nielsen) chosen by Vesteralen starting 25/06/12
WEEK 4: TBC by VIOLADUDE before 24/05/12 and starting 02/07/12
WEEK 5: A Faust Symphony (Liszt) chosen by crmoorhead starting 09/07/12
WEEK 6: TBC by MMSBLS before 08/07/12 and starting 16/07/12

OTHER THREADS

You can still participate in past Listening Club threads here:

http://www.talkclassical.com/19793-tc-listening-club-week.html

NOMINATIONS

To sign up and nominate pieces for listening, use the following thread or PM crmoorhead.

http://www.talkclassical.com/19752-listening-club.html

If a member does not nominate a piece before the deadline in the schedule, a piece will be selected at random from the list of pieces nominated by other members.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

crmoorhead said:


> UPCOMING
> 
> The schedule for the next four Listen Club sessions are:
> 
> ...


I seem to recall St. Lukes nominating Mahler's _Das Lied Von Der Erde _ early on as well, no?


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Yes, that is correct, but I have organised the schedule is in order of when members signed up to the listening club. Apart from those above, there have been 6 other nominations by members, but there are also 32 members signed up to take part. :O If someone fails to get a nomination in by the time their turn comes around, then that weeks will be selected at random from the existing nominations.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I've just listened to the Borodin Quartet YT version linked above. This is the first time I've heard this work, and I really like it. Highlights for me include all the key changes in the first movement. A minor, F major, C major, E minor, to name a few, and the 'faster' D major sections in the beautiful third movement, the progression of which reminds me of Pachelbel's Canon in D.

Thank you Fugue for recommending the quartet this week. I think this will be a great way, not just for me to hear works I'm unfamiliar with, but to share my views on familiar works and see what other members think of them. Maybe people will point out things I hadn't noticed about works I "know well".

If we're giving marks for the work, I'll give this 8/10.


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## Clementine (Nov 18, 2011)

One of my favorite pieces, I have the Alban Berg Quartet recording. This quartet really contains it all: passion, beauty, and originality. Although I don't often come back to the second movement, it's hard not to admire the sounds he was able to create out of the quartet, and when he was deaf no less! The first two movements have always struck me as fairly introductory, while the meat of the material lies in the second half of the piece. The slow movement is of course one of the most gorgeous things out there, and the climax a few minutes before the end pulls at the heartstrings in the most visual way possible, with the entire quartet literally pulling the notes back (attacking, then decrescendo). It's also a great example of Beethoven really getting to the essence of the material, as one by one each instrument joins in on the pull, and the melody fades away only to leave the harmony. The finale is just as beautiful, though I always felt he settled back into major far too quickly. It doesn't really rest on it like the slow movement, it tugs you into it and forces you to dance.


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## Chrythes (Oct 13, 2011)

Couldn't agree more with Clementine's post, even though I really like the first two movements - they are indeed great introductory movements. They somehow prepare for the upcoming third movement by creating an eerie atmosphere. I'd dare to say that the fourth movement is really unnecessary. He does come back to the major too quickly, which couldn't have been a problem if instead, the fifth movement was the fourth and ultimately the ending. 

But nonetheless it's one of my favourite string quartets and pieces as a whole.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

I Love the third movement (A convalescent's hymn of thanksgiving in the Lydian mode). 
4th movement was a short passionate one.
2nd and 5th wasn't special. 1st movement (Allegro sostenuto) has some good moments specially in the last three minutes.

A good string quartet but I doubt it could beat Dvorak's SQ no. 8, 13 or 14.

Score: 7.4 / 10


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## Fugue (Apr 26, 2011)

Some good posts on this thread, makes interesting reading.
I love the Borodin Quartet's recording. The third movement is sublime.
I have been listening to the Takacs version too. I'm leaning towards the Borodin at the moment.


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## Hausmusik (May 13, 2012)

The A Minor quartet is clearly a major chamber work, and the middle movement is one of the most distinctive movements in the whole cycle. But even though I acknowledge its importance, it is probably my least favorite of Beethoven's late quartets. It is overlong (the Op. 130 is equally long, but doesn't feel as long to me) and bizarrely proportioned, and the parts don't hang together, for me. I even think the "great" middle movement, at 18 minutes, is too long for the musical material--it outstays its welcome for me. The movements that work best, for me, are the outer movements, while movements 2 and 4 just don't work for me at all. 

I think the whole work hangs on that middle movement in a weird and unbalanced way. Take away the middle movement, and what would you have left? Whereas, take away the Grosse Fuge from the Op. 130 (as LvB did!) and you still have a masterpiece.

I recently heard it in performance (Tokyo SQ) and expected to finally grasp its structure and musical argument. On the contrary, the performance confirmed for me that the work doesn't hang together as Beethoven's other mature quartets do. For my part, I rarely listen to it compared with the middle quartets, the Op. 130/133, the Op. 131, the Op. 135.

One more comment: I don't know why people rave about the digital Borodin performance (0n Virgin) so much! I find it unlistenable due to the reverberant acoustic. It is like they were recorded inside a cavern.


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## Quartetfore (May 19, 2010)

I guess that I am in the minority concerning the quartet, but it is my opinion is that it is the weakest of the "last Quartets". It just seems to go on and on and never end.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I love this work, I have got it played by Kodaly Quartet (on Naxos) and part of the whole late quartets set with LaSalle Quartet (on Brilliant Classics). Have also encountered it live, it is the most likely of the late quartets to be played live here, audiences of chamber music love it.

In this work, Beethoven goes back to the Baroque suite, but of course its thematically unified, the initial theme comes back in the final movement. The shorter movements - nos. 2 & 4 - are like light breathers between the more substantial movements.

I love the whole thing, but esp. how he brings back the initial struggling theme at the end but transforms it into something optimistic and full of hope, a triumph over adversity. The middle movement has choral-like harmonies reminiscent of Palestrina, but we don't know for sure if Beethoven knew his music, it's an educated guess on part of scholars.

It was used prominently in the film _The Soloist_, with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jnr. But some of the other late quartets where in that soundtrack too, and they lent emotional weight to the story.


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## Hausmusik (May 13, 2012)

Sid James said:


> It was used prominently in the film _The Soloist_, with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jnr.


Sid, even though I didn't really care for that movie overall, the scene where Foxx's character is playing the cello part of the middle mvmt. of the Op. 132 on the side of the road is a powerful one I haven't been able to forget.


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## lou (Sep 7, 2011)

Listened to both the BORODIN and ALBAN BERG QUARTET versions and found both very enjoyable.

Since I'm not very technically knowledgeable, I will only give my emotional response. I found the music quite moving. So much of Beethoven's works seem dark and brooding, yet beautiful in its expression. 

I had once heard a lecturer say that one should seek out a composer's chamber pieces, as they are often the most personal. I have some more exploring to do in that respect.


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## lou (Sep 7, 2011)

Um, did I kill this thread?

...Tumbleweeds and Crickets...


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

I ordered a copy from my library which I just picked up yesterday and listened to today at work. Not a good setting in which to listen, and I'm sorry to say I hated the recording - a live performance by the Budapest String Quartet at the Library of Congress. It said it was recorded sometime between 1940 something and 1960. It sounded like it was recorded in 1910. Painful.

I guess I'm going to have to You Tube this one if I get a chance.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I'll have to post to this later. I have this quartet by the Busch Quartet, the Emerson Quartet, and a couple of others. I also have the Budapest Quartet recording on order. I'll need to take the time to give this work another close listen or two.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

My first time listening to this work in full this week. It struck me as very good...admittedly Beethoven's SQ's for the most part haven't fully clicked with me just yet, there is something that perhaps had come across to me as almost too eccentric or maniacal in them in the past - something blocking me. Listening to this though I can't help but notice a wealth of brilliant musical ideas, and get the feeling I'll be returning to this and his other SQ's much more in the future.


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

This time youtube with Alban Berg Quartet and Guarneri Quartet from this :









First two movements didn't impress me, but the rest did. Looking forward more string quartets


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## Turangalîla (Jan 29, 2012)

For a Beethoven string quartet, I was very pleased.

Carter's rating: 8/10


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

I never quite know where I stand with string quartets. To me, they seem to lack orchestral colour and, for some reason, I have never clicked with them in the same way that solo piano pieces or other mixed chamber pieces have. I enjoy some Haydn quartets and Janacek's two string quartets (as well as Beethoven's own Grosse Fuge), but it an area that I have hitherto lacked motivation to delve into and I don't really 'know' those pieces the way I do many orchestral or choral pieces or opera arias. 

This is why the listening club is a good idea - it forces me to open up more to pieces that I might not otherwise listen to. I purchased two reasonably priced copies of this work. The Kodaly and the Boridin Quartets. To my untrained ears, the works sound fine in both recordings and I'll be damned if I can spot any specific differences between them. Anyway, since string quartets are not something I'll pretend to know about I'll move on. I apologise in advance for assigning programmatic elements to these elements, but it helps me remember them better if I construct a story for each movement. I also apologise for my lack of technical musical knowledge. 

First Movement - I hear elements of the Grosse Fuge in the introduction, and later when material is repeated, but otherwise it is quite pleasant and lyrical. There is something noble about this movement, something elegant and yet strong. I find it passionate and the violin certainly seems to be busy in much of this movement while the other parts take a background role, only occasionally aligning themselves with the quick-moving melody carried by the violin when the brakes are applied. Applying a story to this, it feels like one member of the quartet is trying to break free but is being held in check by the other three. It’s artistic flair in the face of resistance and stoicism.

Second Movement - This movement contains a lot of repetition. The lower strings remind me of wind blowing in the trees or a deep breathing. The upper strings remind me of two birds calling to each other. Half way through this movement, the quartet breaks with bagpipe-like drone before the pace picks up and everything becomes more playful. After this short interlude, the intital call and response motif soon resumes. This is a pleasant section, though not particulary stirring.

Third Movement - Now comes the meat of the piece. I must have heard parts of this somewhere, probably on tv or in films, because little parts certainly seem familiar. The beginning reminds me of sunrise, though the first few minutes are melancholy, as if the sun is rising on a winter’s day. 
This slow build-up leads to a sudden expression of joy, a lyrical tune on violin with support from viola. This is followed by another slow section, followed by another happy burst, followed by final slow section that gradually becomes more and more intense. Towards the end of this movement, the strings seem to be reaching out towards something, pleading almost, before fading and resolving into what seems like sunset, or a return to sleep. Generally quite beautiful.

Fourth Movement – The quieting sounds of the third movement have barely trailed away before the fourth movement begins in earnest. It is bright and proud, like a celebration or fanfare. It maybe even sounds slightly pompous or false, but that could be my imagination. Just before the end of this movement, there is an outburst of song that segues into the final movement.

Fifth Movement – I like this movement. It is similar in style, I think, to the first, but generally more hopeful and less inhibited. The melody flows more smoothly here than anywhere else in the piece, IMO. The central section of this section is somewhat fiery, though that is soon tempered by a return to the main melody. The work is brought to a vigorous and conclusive end as all forces work in unison and with exuberance. 

Overall, I enjoyed this piece, especially since I don’t often pay a lot of attention to string quartets. I’d give it an 8.5 out of 10.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I had planned on listening to my copy of this quartet by the Busch Quartet... but that disc is currently in "deep storage" in one of a series of file folder boxes that are currently housing the huge number of discs I have that no longer have room on my shelves. I must build some new shelves this summer!

Nevertheless, my box set of Beethoven's complete string quartets by the Budapest Quartet arrived yesterday...










...and so I finally have the opportunity to listen to this piece closely. I should say that I quite like the sound of the Budapest Quartet. As I've stated multiple times before, I'm not a huge fan of the string quartet as a musical genre. I lean far more toward vocal music, solo instrumental, orchestral, and other chamber music combinations. Still, I have always felt that there must be something of an ideal balance in both the playing and the acoustics when recording a string quartet, or it becomes tiresome and grating rather quickly. In this sense, I feel the same way with regard to recordings of the solo harpsichord (many of which I find insufferable). Having said all this... again I will say that I quite like the sound of the Budapest Quartet.

Along with the Beethoven Quartets box set, I picked up around 5 discs of Haydn quartets on Naxos played by the Kodaly Quartet to complete my collection of Haydn's major quartets. Undoubtedly Beethoven's creations are a creature of an altogether different order... fine as Haydn's quartets are. Just as Beethoven took the piano sonata to unimaginable heights of personal expression and made this simple form almost orchestral in nature... so too one recognizes that Beethoven's quartets bring something wholly new and profoundly personal to the genre.

I was greatly struck by the beginning of the first movement. This and second swept me up into the work in a rhythmic manner. The third movement... the Heiliger Dankgesang... this is something altogether different and unexpected. From the very beginning I was grabbed by the neck and shaken. This movement held onto me like the most profound passages of Bach's cello sonatas. There is something of the depth of feeling of the finest hymns to this movement which held me enthralled... in spite of what be an excessive length for a slow movement in lesser hands. The fourth movement... a simple little dance-like movement... is shocking... almost irreverent... but in it's way, a perfect anecdote to the preceding movement... and like Mozart... it has its moments of shadow. The final movement, as might be expected, is more optimistic... energetic... even joyful.

Overall I greatly enjoyed this work... and the experience of listening closely to a work that I might not always choose to listen to with such attention.


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

I'm a bit late in getting to this, as I've been away for a few weeks.
Like lou, I'm not technically qualified to comment.
However I listened to the Borodin version on YT.
On the whole I enjoyed the piece, I did feel that it went on a little too long prehaps?
Overall 8 out of 10, as I love strings


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