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Despite
the disparity
in their opus
numbers the
two works
recorded here
were written
within a year.
All the more
surprising
then is the
difference in
their
characters.
The quartet in
F flat is
still very
strongly
linked with
the past;
engaging and
unproblematic,
it is a work
of beauty and
charm. The
Quartet in F
minor, on the
other hand,
looks forward
in time,
revealing
already
characteristics
of the late
quartets;
austere,
sober, and
difficult,
compressed and
reduced to
essentials, it
nevertheless
displays
expressive
power and
spiritual
intensity.
The
Quartet in E
flat was
completed in
the autumn of
1809, while
Beethoven was
staying at
Baden near
Vienna. After
a brief, slow
introduction
an arpeggio
theme leads
into the Allegro
proper,
clearly
anticipating
the pizzicato
passage which
follows
immediately
and recurs
repeatedly in
the course of
the movement,
being devised
obviously as a
special tonal
effect. The
scoring for
the individual
instruments in
alternating
half bars over
a range of up
to
three octaves
produces a
remarkably
plastic
effect, and
from this the
work acquired
its nickname
of "Harp".
The
second
movement has a
beautiful,
fervent
melody, and in
addition a
chorale-like
accompaniment
with episodic
variations.
Soon the Presto
of the third
movement, a
furious
scherzo,
bursts upon us
with
unrestrained
exuberance. A
second, fugal
section (Più
presto quasi
prestissimo)
is introduced
fortissimo
by the cello.
The unusual
recapitulation
scheme of
playing the
first section
three times
and the second
section twice
provoked a
query from the
publisher, but
Beethoven
insisted on
his
instructions.
The variations
on a friedly allegretto
theme which
form the
finale appear
strikingly
simple in the
context of
Beethoven's
variation
technique,
which even at
that time was
fully mature.
There is no
change of key
or tempo but
simply changes
in the
sequence of forte
and piano
and the
figuration.
The first bar
of the Quartet
in F minor
contains the
germ of the
complete first
movement, a
passage played
in unison by
all four
instruments.
Within the
space of a few
bars the
fundamentally
sober and
objective
character of
the whole work
is revealed;
the sudden and
abrupt octave
leaps of the
first violin
in a
march-like
rhythm are
adhered to by
the other
instruments
too. By
concealing the
distinction
between
melodic and
accompanying
parts the
movement is
typical of
Beethoven's
middle period.
Contributing
to the
harshness of
sound are
recurrent
stereotyped
accompaniment
figures, for
instance the
octave-leaping
semiquaver in
the first
violin. The
tendency to
imply rather
than fully
express
manifests
itself
particularly
in the final
cadences of
the movement.
In
a most
original
manner the
second
movement
begins with a
simple
descending
phrase only
four bars
long,
presented like
a programme by
the solo
cello. The
movement's
individual
character
sustained by
the
Baroque-like
fugato,
introduced
later by the
viola, in
which the
polyphonic
interweaving
forms a
striking
contrast to
the
stereotyped
figures of the
first
movement. The
third
movement ought
really to be a
scherzo. And
indeed
scherzo-like
material is
one way or
another
introducer, as
fas as the
foundamentally
serious and
occasionally
gloomy
mood of the
work allows.
The strange
trio has a
uniformly
flowing
accompaniment
by the first
violin,
against which
the other
instruments,
in leisurely
fashion, play
episodes like
parts of an
old chorale,
broken up by
intervals of
several bars
in which only
the upper
accompaniment
is heard. In
the finale,
however, the
first violin
reappears in
its usual
leading role
and in other
respects too
the movement
is highly
conventional.
Although at
the first
hearing the
work may seem
rather
forbidding, it
is without
doubt a
significant
step in the
development
towards
Beethoven's
much
misunderstood
late works.
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