I had long hesitated to write a show about any of Beethoven’s late string quartets. These are pieces that professional 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, arguably representing the pinnacle of everything Beethoven achieved. 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 to take the leap 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. Join us!
Ives Three Places in New England
William Grant Still Symphony No. 1, "Afro-American"
Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue
Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2
Dvorak Symphony No. 7
Shostakovich Symphony No. 4
Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Mozart Requiem
The Life and Music of Lili Boulanger
Schubert Sonata in B Flat, D. 960 (Part 2)
Schubert Sonata in B Flat, D. 960 (Part 1)
Mozart Piano Concerto in D Minor, K. 466
What is a Mode?
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1
Fast, Furious, Fortissimo
Copland Symphony No. 3
An Exploration of Klezmer Music w/ Abigale Reisman
Schumann Symphony No. 3, "Rhenish"
Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 59, No. 1
Ethel Smyth Serenade in D
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
Immediately Kinfolk
Turned On
Resident by Hernan Cattaneo
Markus Schulz presents Global DJ Broadcast