Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 59, No. 1

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast

Joshua Weilerstein

Clarinet, Timpani, Performing, Trombone, Cello, Trumpet, Bassoon, Classicalmusic, Performing Arts, Arts, Violin, Flute, Piano, Conductor, Music, Weilerstein

4.9 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 February 2024

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1806, the 36 year old Beethoven received a commission from the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Andreas Razumovsky. Razumovsky wanted a set of string quartets for what would soon be his house string quartet which included some of the finest players Vienna had to offer. As part of his commission, Razumovsky asked Beethoven to include a Russian theme in each one of the quartets. Beethoven obliged him in 2 of the quartets, and the Razumovsky quartets, Op. 59 1, 2, and 3, were born. 1806 was near the height of Beethoven’s astonishing so called Middle Period, where the scale of his music drastically expanded from his earlier works and he began writing in a so called heroic style, with much more brash and adventurous music. This all started in 1803 with his Eroica Symphony, but Beethoven did not limit his adventures and his expanding palate to his symphonies. Everything with Beethoven’s music was expanding, including his string quartets.

These middle quartets form part of the core of most string quartets repertoires. They are astonishing works in every regard, where Beethoven starts pushing limits we didn’t even, or maybe he didn’t even, know he had. From the expansive 59, 1, to the intensely felt and taut 59, 2, to the often fun loving 59, 3, Beethoven explores every facet of string quartet playing and brings that heroic and passionate new style to the genre of the string quartet. For today, we’re going to go through Op. 59, 1, a remarkably expansive and brilliant piece that explores every facet of string quartet playing, pushing quartets to their technical and emotional limits in ways that were absolutely shocking at the time and still unbelievably challenging today. If you come to this show for symphonies, that’s great, but for me and many other musicians, Beethoven’s string quartets are the greatest collection of pieces by any composer in any genre. I hope that today’s exploration will help convince you of that! Join us!

Transcript

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0:16.0	Hello and I'm Joshua Weilerstein, I'm a conductor and I'm the chief conductor of the Alborg Symphony and the music orchestra of the Alborg Symphony and the music director of the Phoenix Orchestra of Boston. This podcast is for anyone who loves classical music, works in the field, or is just getting ready to dive in to this amazing world of incredible music.
0:24.0	Before we get started I want to thank my new Patreon sponsors Jonathan Magdalena,
0:28.4	Ethan, Ted, Robin, Jeff, and all of my other Patreon sponsors for making season 10 possible.
0:35.0	If you'd like to support the show please head over to patreon.com slash
0:39.2	sticky notes podcast. And if you are a fan of the show please take a moment to give us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. It is greatly appreciated.
0:48.0	So last week I was in Toronto with the amazing Royal Conservatory Music Orchestra doing
0:53.0	Mahler Five and the Elgar cello concerto
0:55.6	with a wonderful young cellist, Cannon Shabata.
0:58.2	This week I am in Manchester with the BBC Philharmonic.
1:01.2	We're doing a couple of different programs with
1:02.9	William Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony, Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, Heiden's
1:06.8	military symphony, for Kofi of Second Piano Concerto, and Catherine Bulch's
1:11.0	cello concerto, The Whisper Concerto. It's been a whirlwind
1:14.4	but it's been great also getting back to work. For this week I am so excited to
1:19.0	share with you this episode on Beethoven's Opus 59 number one String Quartet. I really hope you enjoy this one.
1:25.2	I also wanted to mention that the recording I'm using for this week's show is of the Cleveland Quartet.
1:30.4	This was my dad's old Quartet and just recently they had all of their
1:35.8	recordings re-released, remastered. This was something I've been waiting for
1:40.0	basically my whole life to happen. They're on CD, they're on Spotify, they're on
1:44.3	basically everywhere you can get music, you can find these recordings. I'm a little
1:48.3	biased. I think there's some of the best quartet recordings around and you will
1:51.5	hear a lot of this recording of opus 59 number one today and
	...

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