Luogo e data di registrazione		La Salle des Remparts, La Tour-de-Peilz (Svizzera): - 13-24 gennaio 1972 (Op. 18 No. 4) - 20-31 luglio 1975 (Op. 18 No. 2)
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Vittorio Negri | Tony Buczynski
	Edizione LP		Philips | 6503 107 | 1 LP
	Prima Edizione CD		Vedi link alla prima edizione in long playing.
	Note		La collana "Musica da Camera" della Philips riedita negli anni '80 alcune registrazioni del Quartetto Italiano.

Beethoven started composing string quartets relatively late, around 1798.Possibly he wanted forst to reach a certain degree of maturity in his studies of counterpoint. Evidently he regarded as essential a command of polyphonic style, fugue, canon, and part-writing. When working in a new field it was natural for Beethoven to adhere to established patterns. There is surely more than superficial significance in the fact that he began with a series of six quartets, such as Mozart had produced in 1785 and Haydn in 1790. But as well as these two masters the influence of his own previous compositions is also clear. Right at the start of op. 18 No. 3 one is still very aware of the division of the parts into melodic and accompanying lines; the cello in particular takes very little part in the thematic activity. The normal calm centre of a Beethoven quartet is occupied here by the Andante con moto of the second movement, whose exceptional lenght has been remarked on by many critics. The typical Beethoven is in evidence in the scherzo-like Allegro. This type of movement was to be among the first to be fully developed by Beethoven. But he does not seem to be completely in his element until the finale, which gives greater prominence to fugal and canonic writing. Some mystery surrounds Op. 18 No. 4, which plainly does not really belong in this set. In the absence of sketches, such as we have for the other five quartets of Op. 18, any conclusions about dating the work must be tentative. Hugo Riemann, arguing from close study of the style, claimed that he could pick out the hand of the young Beethoven of the Bonn years; Vincent d'Indy, on the other hand, lays particular stress on the similarity between the first movement and that of the Septet, and points to a relationship with the First Symphony that he finds in the fugal openings of both second movements. Whatever be the answer to the problem of dating the work, there is no doubt that from the very first bars we find Beethoven completely in his element, revelling in a passionate outpouring of beatiful sound (the key of C minor had a particular attraction for him). The scherzo not only takes the place of the slow movement, but also resembles one in its content, and tension is finally resolved only in the following minuet. The finale is in a different kind of C minor from the first movement; here we have a series of short, rapid sections, agreable and entertaining, in contrast to the tragic and dramatic atmosphere of the opening. Hans Schmidt

Illustration: Thomas Ender (1793-1875) "Döbling. Blick af dem Kahlenberg"  (Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien)