Artemis Quartet plays Beethoven
Artemis Quartet
Wigmore Hall
Thursday 20th January
Opinion remains divided about whether Beethoven's late B flat quartet Op 130 works best with its original last movement – published and often performed separately as the Grosse Fuge Op 133 – or with its significantly tamer substitute. For while there's no doubt that the previous four movements are all designed with the original ending in view, the extreme contrast in texture, style and volume often come as a rude shock, obliterating all memory of the beautiful music which precedes it.
It was a mark of the quality of this performance by the Berlin-based Artemis Quartet, in the penultimate concert of their Beethoven cycle, that the Grosse Fuge ending felt just right....
Click here to read the full article in the Guardian
Wigmore Hall
Thursday 20th January
Opinion remains divided about whether Beethoven's late B flat quartet Op 130 works best with its original last movement – published and often performed separately as the Grosse Fuge Op 133 – or with its significantly tamer substitute. For while there's no doubt that the previous four movements are all designed with the original ending in view, the extreme contrast in texture, style and volume often come as a rude shock, obliterating all memory of the beautiful music which precedes it.
It was a mark of the quality of this performance by the Berlin-based Artemis Quartet, in the penultimate concert of their Beethoven cycle, that the Grosse Fuge ending felt just right....
Click here to read the full article in the Guardian
