Search - Alexander String Quartet :: Beethoven: Complete String Quartets

"The Alexander Quartet represents a real bargain ? the performances are alert, sensitive, and full of vitality." -GRAMOPHONE "Robust, cohesive ensemble tone, lively sense of colour and a deep unshakable poise." -LORD MENUHIN, MUSICAL AMERICA The Alexander String Quartet?s performances of Beethoven?s quartets have earned them international acclaim since 1985. As the first American quartet to win London?s International String Quartet Competition, the quartet?s interpretations of Beethoven ? whether in London, Geneva, Philadelphia, or Washington ? have been consistently praised for their controlled and unflagging exuberance and imaginative sensitivity. The Alexander String Quartet is justifiably heralded as one of chamber music?s most compelling ensembles. In December 1995, marking the quartet?s first performance of the cycle in their hometown of San Francisco, Arte Nova invited the Alexander String Quartet to record the complete quartets of Beethoven. The Alexander String Quartet?s annual calendar of concerts regularly feature performances in Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland. At home in California, the members of the quartet direct the Morrison Chamber ! Music Center?s Instructional Program at San Francisco State University and serve as Ensemble-in-Residence with San Francisco Performances? model community residency program. The string quartets of Beethoven have stood for two centuries among the greatest chamber works ever composed, and as fascinating records of Beethoven?s development as a composer from his earliest period to the end of his life. In composing his Op. 18 quartets between 1798 and 1801, Beethoven was making his bid to enter the orbits of Haydn and Mozart. It was only five years between Op. 18 and Op. 59, but five years that had witnessed an outpouring of masterpieces. Op. 59 exudes the confidence and daring of a mature, creative artist. The late quartets are works of unparalleled imagination and originality. These quartets demonstrate the enormous conflict, and even contradiction, of Beethoven?s nature. They express a vast range of emotions, from childlike joy to extreme sorrow. They contain music of the utmost complexity and simplicity. They were problematic for audiences and remained so for decades, for they existed in the interior space of Beethoven?s own mind.