BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN - Quatuor à cordes (les harpes) mi bémol majeur op. 74 BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN - Quatuor à cordes (razumowsky) fa majeur op. 59,1 BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN - Quatuor à cordes (razumowsky) mi mineur op. 59,2 BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN - Quatuor à cordes (razumowsky) ut majeur op. 59,3 BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN - Quatuor à cordes fa mineur op. 95
Although not stylistically closed, the five Beethoven string quartets in this volume are generally referred to as "middle quartets". More than three years separate the composition of the three quartets op. 59 (1806) and that of the quartet op. 74 (1809/10). The quartets op. 59 contain some themes from popular Russian songs - a tribute to Prince Razoumovski who was the sponsor - which also earned them the name "Russian quartets". The following quartet, op. 74, in E flat major also has a nickname: due to some long passages in pizzicato in the first movement, it is often called "harp quartet". Finally, the autograph manuscript of the quartet in F minor op. 95 designates it as "quartet serioso". All these quartets are masterpieces of the composer's maturity, of great technical complexity and interpretation.
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