I have studied Beethoven for years, and I find his piano sonatas and symphonies to be some of the deepest and most rewarding music ever composed. His string quartets, however, elude me. Being a pianist it was easy to get into his sonatas and variation sets from the angle of performance and his symphonies are generally pretty accessible works, but the string quartets have always daunted me, especially when I hear the way respected musicians and composers revere them. I wonder if anyone on this forum has any suggestions for how to approach them; which ones to start with, which recordings are best, and in general what to make of their dense and often enigmatic structures. The sublime pleasure I get from listening to, playing, and dissecting Beethoven's piano music makes me yearn to explore these quartets. I will be forever indebted to those who can help me finally tackle this difficult material!
Thanks in advance.
PS - The recordings I currently own are:
Alban Berg Quartet - full cycle
Alexander Quartet - full cycle
Busch Quartet - Op. 95, Op. 127, Op. 130-132, Op. 135 & Op. 59/1
Tokyo Quartet - Op. 127, Op. 130-132, Op. 135
How to approach the Beethoven Quartets
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klyde4parliament
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Re: How to approach the Beethoven Quartets
Get scores for all the pieces, and read as you listen, following the progress of the music.
You might like to just go through the quartets in order, starting with the early ones, and progressing through. If aspects of the more complex works elude you, don't worry about it, but just return to it later on for another listening. (I cannot suggest particular performances which would be best; I am sure there are many, many with great merit.)
I believe that, for a composer, or a listener really wanting to get into complex works, few habits are more valuable than listening while following in the score. As a boy of 10 or so, I became interested in Beethoven's piano sonatas, and my interest was serious enough that, just a year or so later, my father got for me a complete edition of the 32 sonatas. I bought L.P.s one by one with my pocket money, and the Hammerklavier Sonata (Sonata 29, Op. 106) was about the 3rd L.P. I bought - so I was really jumping into the deep end very early in my childish exploration of Beethoven. I had my complete sonatas edition by that time, so I listened and followed with the score.
I must admit that, after appearing to find sonatas 16, 18, 21, and 23 quite approachable, and very appealing, I was baffled by no. 29, which came next. I seemed to be fascinated by its length, and deliberately chose the longest sonata at that point. Also, I could see that it was very complex, and was attracted to it for that reason. But after my first hearing, I was quite disappointed: it was just so complicated and so *modern* and quite discordant, and I could make no sense out of it. Yet I kept coming back to it and listening again, and following the score each time, and it wasn't long before I got to like it too, and indeed it became one of my favourite Beethoven sonatas. I still think it is an astonishing, forward-looking work - but in a good way, not the negative way I first saw as a child.
I am quite sure this approach will help you with Beethoven's quartets, particularly the late ones. Don't worry about whether you "understand" the music or not; just listen to it and follow with the score (easily available on this site, if you don't have printed scores) - I am sure you will get to appreciate the works sooner than you expect. If you have a piano, you might like to try parts out on it, although I admit trying to sight-read string quartet scores at the piano is more than a little difficult, and you may not have enough fingers to play all the right notes at the right times.
As to what to make of the dense and complex structures you mention, you might, if you have knowledge of music theory, musical form, and so on, like to read through the scores to see how the movements conform to sonata form, fugue form, etc. - and how they differ from those forms, perhaps wildly at times - Beethoven did not appear always to feel bound by the textbook rules of musical form. Such analysis will probably be easier after several hearings, once you have begun to become familiar with the themes, motifs, and so on.
And don't forget the "Grosse Fuge", either. I actually only heard these works (the quartets and fugue) in detail relatively late in life, and was astonished at the modernity of this massive fugue - if you didn't know better, you could quite easily take it for a 20th-century composition. How Beethoven came up with such astonishing counterpoint, such astonishing harmony, arising from the disconcertingly jagged melodic lines, I cannot imagine. But I am sure it will be worth exploring in detail.
I have heard Beethoven's "modernisms" or "dissonance" explained by the supposition that "poor Beethoven was so deaf that he couldn't hear the discords he wrote".
I don't believe a word of it: I think he knew exactly what he was doing.
I hope this helps a little.
Regards, Michael.
You might like to just go through the quartets in order, starting with the early ones, and progressing through. If aspects of the more complex works elude you, don't worry about it, but just return to it later on for another listening. (I cannot suggest particular performances which would be best; I am sure there are many, many with great merit.)
I believe that, for a composer, or a listener really wanting to get into complex works, few habits are more valuable than listening while following in the score. As a boy of 10 or so, I became interested in Beethoven's piano sonatas, and my interest was serious enough that, just a year or so later, my father got for me a complete edition of the 32 sonatas. I bought L.P.s one by one with my pocket money, and the Hammerklavier Sonata (Sonata 29, Op. 106) was about the 3rd L.P. I bought - so I was really jumping into the deep end very early in my childish exploration of Beethoven. I had my complete sonatas edition by that time, so I listened and followed with the score.
I must admit that, after appearing to find sonatas 16, 18, 21, and 23 quite approachable, and very appealing, I was baffled by no. 29, which came next. I seemed to be fascinated by its length, and deliberately chose the longest sonata at that point. Also, I could see that it was very complex, and was attracted to it for that reason. But after my first hearing, I was quite disappointed: it was just so complicated and so *modern* and quite discordant, and I could make no sense out of it. Yet I kept coming back to it and listening again, and following the score each time, and it wasn't long before I got to like it too, and indeed it became one of my favourite Beethoven sonatas. I still think it is an astonishing, forward-looking work - but in a good way, not the negative way I first saw as a child.
I am quite sure this approach will help you with Beethoven's quartets, particularly the late ones. Don't worry about whether you "understand" the music or not; just listen to it and follow with the score (easily available on this site, if you don't have printed scores) - I am sure you will get to appreciate the works sooner than you expect. If you have a piano, you might like to try parts out on it, although I admit trying to sight-read string quartet scores at the piano is more than a little difficult, and you may not have enough fingers to play all the right notes at the right times.
As to what to make of the dense and complex structures you mention, you might, if you have knowledge of music theory, musical form, and so on, like to read through the scores to see how the movements conform to sonata form, fugue form, etc. - and how they differ from those forms, perhaps wildly at times - Beethoven did not appear always to feel bound by the textbook rules of musical form. Such analysis will probably be easier after several hearings, once you have begun to become familiar with the themes, motifs, and so on.
And don't forget the "Grosse Fuge", either. I actually only heard these works (the quartets and fugue) in detail relatively late in life, and was astonished at the modernity of this massive fugue - if you didn't know better, you could quite easily take it for a 20th-century composition. How Beethoven came up with such astonishing counterpoint, such astonishing harmony, arising from the disconcertingly jagged melodic lines, I cannot imagine. But I am sure it will be worth exploring in detail.
I have heard Beethoven's "modernisms" or "dissonance" explained by the supposition that "poor Beethoven was so deaf that he couldn't hear the discords he wrote".
I don't believe a word of it: I think he knew exactly what he was doing.
I hope this helps a little.
Regards, Michael.
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Rob Peters
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Re: How to approach the Beethoven Quartets
One suggestion would be - since you're a pianist - approaching the late quartets from the Diabelli Variations. Alfred Brendel called it the greatest piece ever written for piano, and I think there's some truth in that.
What's essential is that Beethoven at this stage explored the "truth" of the sound more than the beauty of it, and many of the "modernist" fragments from the late quartets have their counterpoints in the slightly earlier set of variations.
The late Bagatelles are revealing too, in that they mirror the more lyrical passages from the late quartets. You could see both the Cavatina and the Grosse Fuge from the op. 130 quartet as stylistically opposite examples of Beethoven's late period writing. I guess the op. 130 quartet as a whole is a great introduction into that lofty realm.
What's essential is that Beethoven at this stage explored the "truth" of the sound more than the beauty of it, and many of the "modernist" fragments from the late quartets have their counterpoints in the slightly earlier set of variations.
The late Bagatelles are revealing too, in that they mirror the more lyrical passages from the late quartets. You could see both the Cavatina and the Grosse Fuge from the op. 130 quartet as stylistically opposite examples of Beethoven's late period writing. I guess the op. 130 quartet as a whole is a great introduction into that lofty realm.
Re: How to approach the Beethoven Quartets
Follow the 10000 hour rule and you will master it.