Repertoire: The BEST Beethoven String Quartet Cycles

For those of us who don’t listen to the string quartets often, this is a truly useful listener’s guide. Thanks for putting this together Dave!

Currently, the Quartetto Italiano Beethoven's No.15 is my favorite thing in music...

Add my enthusiastic second to all your fans who discovered the Suske Quartet's disks. For dirt cheap (20 bucks for the whole set), these people really levitate the texture of the music and make it fly with beautiful technique and attention to variety of tone color from all 4 instruments. Great recorded sound from the late '60s also. a real discovery! Thanks Dave.

Finally, somebody mentioned the Suske quartet. It has been one of my favorite Beethoven cycles for years. If they haven't been from East Germany they would have been better known.

Dear David, I have had the pleasure of watching several of your YouTube videos over the past six months. I have always enjoyed myself thoroughly, and you have a knack of imparting knowledge I was unaware of on every occasion, which is really no mean feat. Thank you so much for providing us listeners with the opportunity to learn and to enjoy!

Great discussion. I grew up with the analog Budapest set. In 12th grade I discovered the Hungarian. Their story made it even more impressive. As the years went by I added the Italians, the Talich, the Vegh, the Tokyo. I found myself returning most often to the Talich. Eventually I added others — Lindsay, Alexander, and even looked at the new Ebene cycle, but my shelf overflows. Finally I gave the ones I listen to least to others, for as you say, they are all good. I return mostly to the Talich, the Vegh, and the Italiano. But I still go back to my original Budapest every so often just to recall the early wonder of discovery I experienced in those days. Thanks again for a great tour of this amazing performance array of one of the pinnacles of music and indeed of Western civilization.

I am so glad that Dave mentioned the Belcea Quartet! This has been my go to version for a while now! Great energy and spirit in the quick movements and fabulous soul searching in the slow movements,especially in the late quartets

So glad you mentioned the cello playing on the Quartetto Italian recordings. It’s haunted me ever since I heard their recording of Schubert’s quartet no. 15 on Phillips. Absolutely sublime. Also of note is the Belcea’s recording of the Debussy quartet. Their playing has an elegance and ethereal quality that I haven’t heard in any other performance. But the the highlight of your talk was your mentioning Chilean sea bass! 😂🤣

What a great overview. Based on this I have gone with the Italian Quartet (entire cycle available on itunes for $9.99!), having listened before to the Lindsays (meh) and some of the Emersons (which I liked a lot). I have always struggled with the opus 18's, and I appreciated your explanation about why they aren't as successful as the middle and later pieces. It rings true for me. In the meantime, the Italians are bowling me over. Thanks for this.

Thank you for the wonderful overview, David. I love so many of the sets you mentioned. Even so, none of them are definitive. That's not to take anything away from them, but you can't be definitive with music like this. The Beethoven String Quartets are simply too big for any one ensemble to represent the best of every detail - especially when some details can have two or three or more contradictory but amazing ways to be played! I often pick through which set I want to listen to based on whether I'm dipping in to the early, middle or late period. At other times, it's totally dependent on which particular quartet I want to listen to or even based on the ensemble,itself, and the approach I want to hear today.

The Hungarian string quartet is just superb in Op. 59 no 1. Must listen rendition ! Thanks David for another great video !

wow you made my day.. T H A N K S ! Beethoven's SQs are so darn special, listening to the Elias Q. right now

I am enjoying the Tokyo Quartet's second run through on Harmonia Mundi. The sound is pristine and the their tone is beautiful. I did some comparing between their Razumovsky No. 1 opening and a number of Dave's selections and came back to this one.

Thank you for this particular review and overview, David! I agree with you that the Beethoven string quartet cycle is something very special! You're right, as a listener I was influenced by what I heard growing up. My parents played Beethoven cycles by the Amadeus Quartet and Quartetto Italiano when I was a kid. And in addition to those two (now on CDs), I do love the Takacs recording, as well as the Emerson cycle. More recently, I have added the Prazak Quartet cycle, as well as both Tokyo Quartet cycles. And for good measure I have an incomplete cycle on five CDs by the Borodin Quartet. Different recordings appeal at different times. While I have not heard a complete live Beethoven cycle by a single quartet in a short space of time, I have been fortunate to hear all of these quartets (except the Italiano), and many others, including the Juilliard, Guarneri, Belcea, Alban Berg, Mandelring, Pavel Haas, Miro, Dover, Pacifica, Endellion and Lindsay Quartets playing one or more of the 15 (or 16) in the Beethoven cycle in concerts over the past five decades. What a joy!

Thank you so much for this one. I bought the digital Alban Berg set many years ago as my first Beethoven quartet taster, when it was at a knockdown bargain price and no others were. I didn't much like what I heard, so I went away from the pieces. But today, I have been putting on the first Rasumovsky quartet as a side by side comparison on the stream today between Smetana, Miro and Belcea and I do like the Smetana version, but I also found myself drawn to the Miro version - I like their slightly astringent, but deeply expressed tone. (It could also be that I like their Miro - inspired cover art...? I remember being drawn to the Emerson Quartet because I like Emerson's poetry...). So now Melbourne is put into another lockdown, I will find myself keeping on listening for the first time to the Beethoven quartets, comparing the Smetana and Miro as I go. Thanks again so much for these talks.

Thanks to your recommendation here I finally picked up the Talich cycle. I've heard multiple recordings and live performances of these works over the years, and the Talich are something special. They bring out the music's intricate lines lines and their interpretation is so lively and characterful! I'm eager to hear more performances by them. Next on the list for me to try is the Smetana Quartet.

Glad you picked out the Miro Quartet. It's superb.

Marvelous presentation! I'd like to add to your picks Prazak and Auryn Quartet, which are my new favorites. Thank you.

Thank you for your fine presentation. My Beethoven quartet imprinting came from the cited Juilliard/Sony 1960s analogue cycle, supplemented by some of the Yale Quartet/Vanguard recordings of the same time. Of the recordings you have discussed I am especially drawn to Supraphon Smetana cycle. It sounds fresh, vivid, with a truly rich and resonant string sonority, like the cello in op 59/1. There are indeed so many excellent Beethoven quartet cycles to choose from. In addition to the wonderful and satisfying cycles of Tokyo/RCA, Hungarian Qt mono/EMI, and Talich/Calliope, I also have a very polished, beautiful reading of the cycle by the Gewandhaus-Quartett on NCA. The Gewandhaus has transparent, immaculate sound, superb intonation, and shares something of the warmth and affection of the Quartetto Italiano. I just wish it also had a little more in the way of energy, volatility, and excitement. A big disappointment has been the the last full Borodin Quartet cycle recorded in the early 2000s and released by Chandos in 2009. This set features an exciting and spectacular first violinist, Ruben Aharonian, but is sadly undone by the weak cello of Valentin Berlinsky, who was already in technical decline in the 1990s but did not retire until 2007. Old-fashioned portamento may also put some listeners off. The Borodin set illustrates your observation in behalf of the Smetana Qt recording that great string quartet playing is anchored by a strong bass line with clarity and definition in the lower voices.

A great survey of some of the great Beethoven cycles. From the more recent cycles I particularly like the Artemis Quartet on Erato, we’ll balanced, we’ll recorded and elegant playing. With the Belvea Quartet cycle imo the best from the past 2/3 decades.