Arianna String Quartet – Beethoven: The Middle Quartets (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Arianna String Quartet – Beethoven: The Middle Quartets (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:42:01 minutes | 2,54 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Centaur Records, Inc.

Count Razumovsky, the Russian ambassador to Vienna, commissioned Beethoven to write the three quartets of Op.59 in 1805 for the Schuppanzigh Quartet. The Count was an amateur violinist and frequently played as second violinist with the Schuppanzigh Quartet, a group he funded and whose members were considered to be some of Vienna’s finest string players. In his commission, Count Razumovsky’s only specific request of Beethoven was that Russian folk tunes be significantly featured in the music. Beethoven fulfilled this request in two of the three quartets, but with melodies that are, as he put it, “real or imitated” Russian themes. The Op.59 set was completed in 1806, after the “Eroica” Symphony of 1803, six years after his earlier Op. 18 quartets, and immediately following the “Waldstein” and “Appassionata” Piano Sonatas. In the three-year period of 1803-06, Beethoven completed his Fourth Piano concerto, Piano Sonata in F, Op.54, his Triple Concerto, 3 Leonore Overtures, the three Op.59 quartets and his opera Fidelio, thereby demonstrating his mastery of the genres of the symphony, sonata, concerto, opera and string quartet. With the publication of the Op.59 quartets, Beethoven moved the genre of the string quartet out of the small “chamber” setting and onto a larger stage. Each of the Op.59 quartets stands as a monumental individual work, both in terms of literal size and dramatic scope.

Tracklist:
CD1
01. Arianna String Quartet – I. Allegro (10:55)
02. Arianna String Quartet – II. Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando (09:17)
03. Arianna String Quartet – III. Adagio molto e mesto – (13:24)
04. Arianna String Quartet – IV. Thème russe: Allegro (08:25)

CD2
01. Arianna String Quartet – I. Allegro (09:36)
02. Arianna String Quartet – II. Molto adagio (13:14)
03. Arianna String Quartet – III. Allegretto (08:02)
04. Arianna String Quartet – IV. Finale: Presto (05:36)
05. Arianna String Quartet – I. Introduzione: Andante con moto – Allegro vivace (10:44)
06. Arianna String Quartet – II. Andante con moto quasi allegretto (09:06)
07. Arianna String Quartet – III. Menuetto: Grazioso – (05:22)
08. Arianna String Quartet – IV. Allegro molto (06:05)

CD3
01. Arianna String Quartet – I. Poco adagio – Allegro (09:40)
02. Arianna String Quartet – II. Adagio ma non troppo (09:39)
03. Arianna String Quartet – III. Presto (05:05)
04. Arianna String Quartet – IV. Allegretto con variazioni (06:55)
05. Arianna String Quartet – I. Allegro con brio (04:26)
06. Arianna String Quartet – II. Allegretto ma non troppo – (07:17)
07. Arianna String Quartet – III. Allegro assai vivace, ma serioso (04:37)
08. Arianna String Quartet – IV. Larghetto espressivo – Allegretto agitato – Allegro (04:36)

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