Above: the Danish String Quartet, photo by Caroline Bittencourt
~ Author: Ben Weaver
February 2020 - With Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday celebrations this year there will be much Beethoven on display at concert halls around the world. But few things tell us more about Beethoven and his genius than his sixteen String Quartets, composed throughout his life. Chamber Society of Lincoln Center is hosting the Danish String Quartet at Alice Tully Hall for a multi-week marathon of performances of all of Beethoven’s Quartets - performed in order in which they were written - thus giving us a very clear view into Beethoven as composer.
People who may know Beethoven primarily though his nine Symphonies know only a small part of Beethoven the musician. Exploration of other genres reveal many surprises about the man’s personality. If the Symphonies tend to showcase his heaven-storming madness, his Piano Sonatas and String Quartets especially, reveal a man of humor, gentleness, romance and - yes - occasional heaven-storming. In most genres he tackled, Beethoven didn’t tread water, but pushed beyond previous acceptable boundaries into an unknown future that would one day birth Mahler and Schoenberg.
The six String Quartets published under his Op. 18 were composed between 1798 and 1800 on commission from Prince Lobkowitz. Beethoven was 27. Mozart had been dead less than ten years and Haydn would live another ten. For those who judge Beethoven by his Fifth Symphony, the early works - whether Quartets, Piano Sonatas or Violin Sonatas - would come as a shock. Light and tuneful, with only occasional bouts of melancholy and darkness to forecast things to come, they would not be out of place in the Esterhazy Palace. For example, the opening tune of the 6th Quartet is one Haydn would kill for, with its contagious bounciness.
Taking on this Olympian challenge are four string players from Denmark: violinists Frederik Øland and Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, violist Asbjørn Nørgaard, and cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin. Their beautiful, crisp and transparent playing has been acclaimed around the world, and their performances so far of the Quartets have been exemplary. The two violinists alternate playing 1st and they have unique qualities: Øland’s sound is more pointed, Tonsgaard Sørensen’s is more romantic. In the magnificent Adagio cantabile of the 2nd Quartet (actually the third quartet to be composed), Tonsgaard Sørensen’s violin sustained a gorgeous, ravishing line in the upper register, mellow like honey. In the 1st Quartet, the dramatic Adagio affettuoso ed appassioanto benefited from Øland’s more searing approach. It may still be too early for viola and cello to really showcase their talents - the cello especially in these early works largely serves as an accompanist “oom-pah-paher.” This will change as Beethoven’s talents matured and as he pushed the art-form in new, more symphonic directions.
(Unfortunately, I had to miss the performances of the “Razumovsky” Quartets.)
~ Ben Weaver