Review by JJ June 29, 2013 (3 of 5 found this review helpful)
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The String Quartets of Opus 18 by Beethoven are works of “transition,” unique in their expressive richness. For, as so rightly states Bernard Fournier, “Thus, these works which already often bear witness to stupefying intuitions and admirable successes, are particularly attractive, for one finds in them a mix of spontaneity and lucidity, of naïve freshness and science, of lightness of composition and cumbersome heaviness which gives them a particular charm of great but imperfect works one doesn’t find in later works.” The String Quartet N°16 Op.135 is a score which reflects “a possible step in the stylistic evolution of Beethoven.” Made up of four movements, it represents a summation which has not revealed all its mysteries. For the Hagen Quartet, the tone is from here on in serene. With scope that is both Apollonian and majestic, the quartet offers the self-evidence of an inspired interpretation that will remain in our memories a long time. Insofar as the sound recording, excellence is also the word with an admirable group soundstage for the multichannel and the respect for the instruments’ tone. Here is Art with a capital A.
Jean-Jacques Millo Translation Lawrence Schulman
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