Beethoven String Quartet in F major op 135
Jörg Widmann String Quartet no 3 Hunt Quartet
Beethoven String Quartet in D major op 18 no 3

The spirit of Beethoven fuels this dramatic recital, juxtaposing the first and last of his masterful quartets.

In 1826, Beethoven’s personal life had descended into swirling chaos. But the majestic opus 135 Quartet he composed in that year gives no hint of it. The quartet is a miracle of transcendent beauty where Beethoven reconciles the competing sensibilities of classical order and radical Romanticism, to find consolation in the work’s restorative harmony.

German composer Jörg Widmann channels the spirit of Beethoven the innovator in a work of mischievous iconoclasm, transforming the driving rhythms of the seventh symphony into a startling tour-de-force of the art of performance.

Published in 1801, the first quartet announces Beethoven’s arrival as musical wunderkind of the new century. The young composer exhibits his command of the style of the master composers, Mozart and Haydn, and points forward to the ways he would transcend them.