Luogo e data di registrazione		Théâtre Vevey, Vevey (Svizzera) La Salle des Remparts, La Tour-de-Peilz (Svizzera) Musica-Théâtre, Salle de Musique, La-Chaux-de-Fonds (Svizzera)
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Vittorio Negri | Tony Buczynski, Willem van Leewev, Ko Witteveen, Joost Humeling, Gerard Janszen, Frans von Dongen
	Prima Edizione LP		Philips | 6747 272 | 10 LPs | (Complete Works for String Quartets) Philips | 6998 025 | 3 LPs | (The Early Quartets) Philips | 6998 017 | 3 LPs | (The Middle-Period Quartets) Philips | 6703 085 | 3 LPs | (The Middle-Period Quartets) Philips | 6707 008 | 4 LPs | The Late Quartets) Philips | 6998 022 | 4 LPs | (The Late Quartets)
	Prima Edizione CD		Philips | 426 046-2 | 3 CDs (54' 02" - 47' 25" - 57' 28") | (c) 1989 | ADD | (The Early Quartets) Philips | 420 797-2 | 3 CDs (40' 29" - 58' 51" - 64' 35") | (c) 1989 | ADD | (The Midle-Period Quartets) Philips | 426 050-2 | 4 CDs (63' 45" - 62' 00" - 42' 22" - 47' 10") | (c) 1989 | ADD | (The Late Quartets)
	Note		Ripubblicazioni in cofanetto dell'opera per quartetto d'archi di Beethoven.

BEETHOVEN: COMPLETE WORKS FOR STRING QUARTET THE EARLY QUARTETS In considering Beethoven's artistic creative processes, a certain area might well be reserved for determining how his own ideas and personal style were to be reconciled with the various requirements of difficult musical genres. It is quite remarkable that Count Apponyi’s request to Beethoven in 1795 to write a string quartet provided at first only an incentive to write something in a related genre - in fact the String Quintet Op. 4. The special regard - not to say respect - for quartet-writing is made clear in Beethoven’s letter of July 13, 1808 to the publishers Breitkopf & Härtel: "... I have turned a single sonata of mine into a quartet for stringed instruments for which people were so earnestly asking me, and I know for certain that it would not be easy for anyone to do it better than I have done..." In the realm of the string quartets the spirit of Mozart, transmitted through Haydn, which Beethoven had come to Vienna to receive, is clearly discernible. Emanuel Aloys Förster also exercised a strong influence. Some of Beethoven’s transcripts, still extant, make it clear that he must have made a study in depth in particular of Mozart‘s Quartet in A, K. 464 and Haydn’s Quartet in D, Op. 20 No. 4. The inclusion of six quartets in a single opus number - in Beethoven’s case Op. 18 - is in itself a general indication of Mozart and Haydn as models. More precisely, Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 18 No. 5 shows clear affinities with, if not direct reminiscences of the Mozart quartet mentioned above - in the common key of A major and, in the overall structure, the reversal of the middle movements and the use of a movement consisting of a theme and variations, a particularly characteristic form for Beethoven himself. The minuet of Beethoven’s quartet reveals very personal characteristics; the heart-warming Viennese dance-tunes of its trio are reminiscent of Haydn. Another typical feature is the way in which an insignificant motif obstinately persists in asserting itself in the finale. It is, however, within the Quartet Op. 18 No.4 that we find the oldest stratum with remains of the Bonn period. Its key of G minor was equally significant for the Beethoven of the early, middle, and late periods, but here, incidentally, it has quite different emotional overtones in the first and last movements. The similarity (in the first movements) with the Septet and likewise with the First Symphony (in the fugato openings to the second movements) points to 1798-1800 as the period of composition for this work. It is established that the Quartet Op. 18 No. 3 was composed first and followed - according to the sketches found by Gustav Nottebohm - by the Quartets Nos. 1, 2, and 5. As with the fourth quartet, we lack corresponding information about the order of composition of the last quartet. It is undoubtedly the most advanced; it is in the same key of B flat major and has the same marking for the first movement as the Piano Sonata Op. 22, the two having been partially sketched out together. There is a hint of later formal developments in the fact that the first movement clearly yields pride of place to the scherzo, whose exuberant playfulness is intended to perplex both players and listeners with its shifts of emphasis integrated in masterly fashion, and to the unique finale, whose sub-title "La Malinconia” (Melancholy) has thrown up many problems. The impetuous rhythmic drive, which ultimately dominates the sombre and restrained introduction, need not prevent us from regarding that sub-title as characterising the whole movement and not merely the beginning. A critic of the later Quartet Op. 74, which he bitterly attacked, cast a retrospective eye over these first six quartets and confirmed their wealth of imagination and artistic devices, their attractive themes appealing to every shade of feeling, and the unity and firmly consistent character of every movement, worthy of comparison with the masterpieces of Haydn and Mozart. THE MIDDLE-PERIOD QUARTETS To the period after the completion of the “Eroica" Symphony, the "Waldstein” Sonata, Op. 53, and the “Appassionata” Sonata, Op. 57 belong the three quartets of Op. 59, dedicated to Count Rasoumovsky, the Russian ambassador to the Austrian court, well-known in contemporary Vienna as a considerable art collector, a very competent string-player, and a keen amateur of music. While the introduction of Russian folk-tunes in the first and second quartets may be regarded as no more than a slight courtesy towards the dedicatee, the systematic pursuit of individual aims in the composition as a whole certainly deserves attention; this is clear in the first public notice: “Three new, very long and difficult string quartets by Beethoven... are also attracting the attention of all connoisseurs. They are profound in thought and splendidly worked out, but not generally comprehensible - with the possible exception of the third in C major, which must win over every knowledgeable amateur of music by its individuality, melody, and harmonic power." Through the second movement of the Quartet in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 there blows a breath somewhat reminiscent of the "Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit” (Hymn of gratitude from a convalescent to the Divinity) from the late A minor Quartet, Op. 132. Considering the profound and heart-felt theme of the chorale-like movement in the E minor Quartet, it hardly needs the addition of the special marking: Si tratta questo pezzo con molto di sentimento. According to Czerny it is supposed to have occurred to Beethoven once when he was contemplating the starry sky and meditating on the music of the spheres. Contemporary opinion immediately accepted the electrifying virtuoso and yet accessible qualities of the third quartet, which correspond to those of piano sonatas composed contemporaneously or shortly before. As a consequence of the unmistakable basic rhythmic impulse, an Andante con moto quasi allegretto has replaced the normal Adagio which might have slowed the impetus excessively. Similar considerations may have led to the choice of a fugal finale and indeed to the free extension of what is a closely organised form. The original and special quality in Beethoven is increasingly crystallised as an intensification of expression. His letter of November 1, 1806 to the Scottish amateur of music, George Thomson, indicates the possibilities available to him of applying his art on different levels. He says: “I shall strive to make the compositions easy and agreeable as far as I can, and insofar as I can reconcile this with that loftiness and originality of style which, according to your own testimony, characterise my works to their advantage, and from which I shall never depart." However, Beethoven’s main stream of composition followed other laws. This is how the reporter of the Leipzig “Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung" interpreted the E flat Quartet, Op. 74 in his own fashion: “The composer has here devoted himself uncompromisingly to the most remarkable and strange conceptions of his original imagination, has fantastically woven together the most disparate elements, and has treated almost all of them witn such profound and difficult art that even the lighter and more pleasing details have simply foundered in the ambient gloom." He concludes severely by saying that he could not wish instrumental music to lose its way in this fashion; that the purpose of the string quartet as a genre could surely not be to commemorate the dead or to describe the feelings of those in despair, but rather to raise the listeners spirits by the gentle and beneficent play of the imagination. A confusion of dissonances towards the end of the Adagio, a virtually free tantasia in the Allegro of the first movement, war-like dances, as it were, of a savage people in the third movement, and a finale consisting of variations which are profound and original rather than pleasing - all these elements were here marshalled. The sub-title “Quartetto serioso" is to be found in the manuscript of the F minor Quartet, Op. 95. An attempt has been made to relate the "serioso" to Beethoven’s offer of marriage to Therese Malfatti, which was refused. Hugo Riemann began a discussion of this work by saying: "The first movement is perhaps the most brusque that Beethoven has ever written." He here refers to a certain motif which occurs about 50 times in the mere 151 bars comprising the first movement. Beethoven was perfectly aware ofthe nature of the work. In mid-October he explained in a letter to George Smart in London that the quartet was written only for a small group of connoisseurs and was never intended to be played in public. Written as early as 1810, it was published only in December 1816. The dedicatee, Beethoven’s friend Nikolaus von Zsmeskall was a professional - a very competent cellist who himself left no fewer than 14 original quartets. THE LATE QUARTETS The last and ripest phase, in which the quartet form has its strongest individual significance and in which Beethoven’s language, refined by experience, is at its most spiritual, begins with the Quartet in E flat, Op. 127. Here, in the first movement, the cantabile style, indeed "infinite melody" in the Wagnerian sense, predominates. The almost religious meditation of this movement is intensified in the subsequent movement (Adagio ma non troppo e molto cantabile) to a transcendental and fervent transfiguration. In the bridge-passage to the theme and variations we find a structure absolutely peculiar to Beethoven. The scherzo, one of the greatest, and a work of genius, takes its place beside the incomparable scherzo of the Ninth Symphony, work on the ending of which interrupted work on the quartet for months at a time. The finale (in the form of a rondo with free episodes) gives an overall impression of serenity, but ends misted in obscurity - in a mood removed, as it were, from earthly things. The Mainz publisher Schott, who reckoned this work to be the summit of instrumental music, could still not refrain from pointing out certain difficulties. In a letter of the period Beethoven complained of the scandal of general public taste being far inferior in the artistic world to that in private circles. It is also worth noting that success came only with the second performance, in which Joseph Böhm replaced lgnaz Schuppanzigh as leader. The last four quartets all belong to the years 1825-26, though in fact composed in a different order from that indicated by the opus numbers. The A minor Quartet, Op. 132, dates from February to the end of July 1825 and the B flat Quartet, Op. 130, with the "Grosse Fuge" (subsequently issued independently as Op. 133) as finale, from July to November. In the first six months of 1826 there followed the C sharp minor Quartet, Op. 131, and from July to October the F major Quartet, Op. 135. Finally, the period from September to the beginning of November produced the definitive finale of the B flat Quartet, Op. 130, which at the same time represents Beethoven’s last complete major composition. (For the listener`s convenience, both finales are presented in these recordings on Side 16, with the “Grosse Fuge" taking pride of place.) Ii is not only in his late works that Beethoven, despite the narrow confines in which he moved, burst the bounds of traditional dimensions not only by increasing the number of movements but by electing to compose such a colossal finale as the "Grosse Fuge" (though later yielding to the advice of friends). Even the "Waldstein" Sonata started life with an extended middle movement which was replaced by a Short "Introduzione" to the finale and published separately as the "Andante favori." According to a report by his friend Karl Holz, Beethoven is supposed to have wept tears of sorrow as he composed the Cavatina: "He confessed to me that his own music had never yet produced such an impression on him, and that even to re-experience it cost him fresh tears." We can, incidentally, judge of the labour which Beethoven undertook by the sketches which, in the case of the C sharp minor Quartet alone, occupy three times the volume of the fair copy. In spite of everything, however, he was not uhremittingly in deadly earnest, either in music or in words; lack of humour is rather a characteristic of his contemporaries, who took the facetious remark on the proof-copy: "Filched and put together from various sources, here and there," at its face-value and thereby occasioned a corresponding explanatory letter. The inscription on the third movement of the Quartet in A minor, Op. 132- “Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit in der lydischen Tonart" (Hymn of gratitude from a convalescent to the Divinity in the Lydian mode) refers to a serious illness which caused an interruption of work in the spring of 1825. At the rehearsal on September 7, 1825, the solemn, and pious mood of this movement is supposed so to have affected Johann Woltmayer, the rich cloth merchant and patron of the arts, that he wept like a child. Work on the Quartet in F, Op. 135, lasted until late autumn of 1826, since Beethoven had undertaken the fateful journey to his brother’s property near Gneixendorf, from which he was to return to Vienna with his mortal illness. The most impressive contemporary document concerning Beethoven’s late style of quartet-writing is an unusually extensive notice of the C sharp minor Quartet, Op. 131, which Friedrich Hochlitz published in the Leipzig "Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung" on July 23, 1828, more than a year after Beethoven’s death. Rochlitz went so far as to doubt, though with unmistakably cautious reserve, the capacity of the aging master to compose at all since, almost completely devoid of hearing, he could at the end only have lived his own inner life. He found fault chiefly with introspective, disconnected combinations, with themes too overlaid with instruments weaving variations, or too violently alternating figurations making it almost impossible to distinguish the melody. The themes themselves he found frequently quite strange, the modulations acute to a bizarre degree, and the time signatures changing too abruptly. On the other hand, he conceded that these works demanded intelligent and repeated hearings and above all an appropriate interpretation. However, Beethoven’s greatness was unassailable as far as he was concerned; nor was he certain whether this last period should not after all be regarded as a well-considered stylistic development. “Beethoven did not compromise... least of all did he compromise in his last works... He has been called the inventor of his time musically speaking, and that he is indeed. When scarcely more than a youth he was already producing works which were original, which belonged to him alone, which could only have come from him.” It almost seems as if Rochlitz, who anyway held Beethoven in high esteem, suspected that the composer might ultimately be proved to be in the right despite such criticism; at any rate he considered it appropriate to quote Lichtenberg’s well-known saying, obviously in Beethoven’s favour: "If a head and a book are knocked together and there is a hollow sound, must it always come from the book?" HANS SCHMIDT Beethoven-Archiv, Bonn Translated by Francis Català NOTE FOR THE SCORE-READERS The basic score for the Quartetto Italiano`s performances of the late string quartets was the Universal Edition (based on the first editions of the original versions). However, in the violin parts of the substitute finale of Op. 130 (Side 16), at bars 98 and 99 (the poco ritardando after the double-bar of the exposition), the F sharp of the Peters edition has been preferred to the F natural of Universal. QUARTETTO ITALIANO The Quartetto Italiano is deservedly one of the most renowned quartets of our time. It was as long ago as 1945, soon after completing their studies, that Paolo Borciani, Elisa Pegreffi, Piero Farulli, and Franco Rossi, resisting the tempting promise of individual careers as soloists, decided to pool their youthful enthusiasm and musical talent and devote themselves to the difficult but satisfying art of playing chamber music really well. By 1947 the group had established a firm reputation in the musical press and begun giving concerts outside Italy. In1951 they visited the United States for the first time, and it was soon apparent that their devotion to their music and the impeccable standards of performance they had set for themselves were earning them fame as well as satisfaction. Over the years since 1945 they have remained together, a rare example of teamwork in music. To list the group`s wide-ranging activities in more than 30 years is pointless: they have done everything one might expect of one of the world’s finest quartets. They have given hundreds of concerts all over Europe and in the United States; they are regular participants in the chamber-music concours of many countries; and they have played and are in constant demand at the world`s great music festivals. Outside the concert circuit the members of the quartet teach chamber music at both the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and the Conservatoire in Vienna. In addition to the many words of praise bestowed on them - after their first concert in New York, Virgil Thomson, the distinguished critic of the "New York Herald Tribune," called them “the finest quartet, unquestionably, that our century has known” - they have been publicly honoured by the President of Italy as a more tangible recognition of their outstanding artistic services over the years to Italy in particular and the world of music in general.