Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 132 (Part 1)

Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 132 (Part 1)

I've long hesitated to write a show about any of Beethoven's late string quartets. These are pieces that quartets spend the better part of their careers grappling with, struggling with, failing with, and much more rarely, succeeding with. They are some of the most extraordinary pieces of art ever conceived of. 5 quartets, Opus 127, Opus 130, Opus 131, Opus 132, and Opus 135 - all written near or at the end of Beethoven's life, these pieces represent the pinnacle of everything Beethoven achieved, yes, even far beyond his symphonies in this conductors opinion. They explore not only every conceivable emotion, but they dig down into the core of those emotions, defiantly refusing to skim the surface and daring to ask and THEN ANSWER the fundamental questions of life and death. Everyone has a favorite Late Beethoven Quartet, but mine has always been Opus 132, and so this week I'm taking the opportunity of getting a Patreon sponsor request from Maria for a piece of chamber music to take the leap myself into Late Beethoven. We'll discuss Beethoven's situation as he recovered from a life-threatening illness which he was sure was going to be his end, the unusual 5 movement structure of the piece, and this week, the first two movements of the quartet, the first of which, to me, defines everything that Sonata Form can do to express emotion and a narrative in a piece of absolute music.

Jaksot(282)

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Part 1)

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Part 1)

The great and somewhat controversial conductor Leopold Stokowski said this about Tchaikovsky: "His musical utterance comes directly from the heart and is a spontaneous expression of his innermost feel...

21 Maalis 50min

Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 59, No.2

Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 59, No.2

I'm always tickled by composer trivia questions, like which standard canon works begin in a major key and end in a minor key? I'll give you one, but please comment others below: Mendelssohn's 4th Symp...

5 Maalis 56min

Brahms Symphony No. 2 LIVE w/ The Aalborg Symphony

Brahms Symphony No. 2 LIVE w/ The Aalborg Symphony

Brahms spent much of his adult life battling with his ambition to write the next great symphony and his terror at the shadow of Beethoven standing behind him. Brahms tortured himself for 14 years with...

19 Helmi 58min

Zemlinsky: The Mermaid

Zemlinsky: The Mermaid

The story of Alexander von Zemlinsky's The Mermaid begins with a passionate love affair and ends in heartbreak of the most unabashedly big-R Romantic kind. In 1900, the young, fabulously talented, and...

5 Helmi 1h 1min

Pergolesi Stabat Mater

Pergolesi Stabat Mater

Many aspects of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's life seem relatively normal when it comes to composers of the Baroque era. He was prolific, died young, and his music became very famous only after his de...

22 Tammi 59min

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2

We humans seem to love comeback stories, and there is no comeback quite as compelling in the classical music world as Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. It was written three years after the disastr...

8 Tammi 52min

Handel Messiah w/ Aram Demirjian

Handel Messiah w/ Aram Demirjian

A piece that I have been asked to cover probably a dozen times is Handel's Messiah. It's a piece I love, but a piece that I've never conducted or played, and so therefore I don't know it incredibly we...

18 Joulu 20251h 9min

Gustav Holst: The Planets

Gustav Holst: The Planets

Mr. Holst, wherever you are, I apologize in advance for what I'm about to say. From my research, I know you resented this fact, but unfortunately, I think it's true. Here it is: despite the large cata...

4 Joulu 20251h 2min

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