Artist: Narratio Quartet
Title: Beethoven: Early String Quartets
Year Of Release: 2024
Label: Challenge Classics
Genre: Classical
Quality: flac 24bits - 44.1kHz + Booklet
Total Time: 02:45:30
Total Size:  1.58 gb

Tracklist

CD1
01. String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 18: I. Allegro
02. String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 18: II. Andante con moto
03. String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 18: III. Allegro
04. String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 18: IV. Presto
05. String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18: I. Allegro con brio
06. String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18: II. Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato
07. String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18: III. Scherzo Allegro molto - Trio
08. String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18: IV. Allegro

CD2
01. String Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18: I. Allegro
02. String Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18: II. Adagio cantabile - Allegro - Tempo I
03. String Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18: III. Scherzo Allegro - Trio
04. String Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18: IV. Allegro molto - quasi Presto
05. String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18: I. Allegro
06. String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18: II. Menuetto - Trio
07. String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18: III. Andante cantabile (con variazioni)
08. String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18: IV. Allegro

CD3
01. String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18: I. Allegro ma non tanto
02. String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18: II. Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto
03. String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18: III. Menuetto Allegro - Trio
04. String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18: IV. Allegretto - Prestissimo
05. String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18: I. Allegro con brio
06. String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18: II. Adagio ma non troppo
07. String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18: III. Scherzo Allegro - Trio
08. String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18: IV. La Malinconia - Questo pezzo si deve trattare colla più gran delicatezza - Adagio - Allegretto quasi Allegro

Viola de Hoog: I have often wondered which of the “great spirits” might provide a new impulse and a different direction for what we call classical music in this early part of the twenty-first century. Narratio Quartet have been immersed in all of Beethoven’s string quartets for over fifteen years now. We experience time and again how Beethoven explored and then overcame the limits of the Classical style and the instrumental difficulties that were prevalent at the start of the nineteenth century. What we hear has been enriched by the passing of two centuries and the gaining of wider experience. Progress indeed, might be your first thought, but perhaps we have also lost something along the way? The ability to feel how groundbreaking and visionary this music was in those days. My colleagues and I feel that using instruments that are comparable to those of the time has helped us enormously in getting somewhat closer to the surprise, the bewilderment and the rapture that the musicians in Schuppanzigh’s quartet must have felt when they first came face to face with the newest and most innovative chamber music of the day.

NARRATIO QUARTET

The Narratio Quartet was formed in 2009 at the Early Music Festival in Utrecht. The quartet has since played the complete cycle of Beethoven quartets several times in the Netherlands and recently also in Switzerland. Their repertoire has expanded to the later 19th century with the three Brahms quartets in combination with Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn. In the course of 2024/2025, Challenge Records will release their recording of the complete Beethoven cycle played on period instruments. The name ‘Narratio’ refers to the art of rhetoric and illustrates the quartet’s focus on storytelling and interaction between the musicians, and also between the quartet and the audience.

Johannes Leertouwer, violin

performs as a soloist, chamber music player and conductor. For many years he was concertmaster of Anima Eterna and the Netherlands Bach Society. He is artistic director and conductor of the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht and violinist of Ensemble Schönbrunn since its foundation. In addition to teaching at the Conservatory of Amsterdam he is a professor at Seoul National University and obtained his doctorate in 2023 from the University of Leiden on research into the performance practice of orchestral repertoire by Johannes Brahms.

Franc Polman, violin

is a violinist in the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and has played in prestigious baroque orchestras such as Musica Antiqua Köln and Les Musiciens du Louvre. He is active in several chamber music ensembles. Polman plays on a number of Amsterdam violins from the 17th century, built by Hendrik Jacobs and Pieter Rombouts.

Dorothea Vogel, viola

studied in Switzerland, the USA and London, where she has lived since her studies. She was violist of the Allegri Quartet for 20 years and is a member of the Primrose Piano Quartet. She also performs with the English baroque ensemble The Kings Consort. Dorothea teaches at the Royal Welsh College in Cardiff.


Viola de Hoog, cello

is a versatile musician. Her international career takes place in the world of early music, but for 20 years she also travelled all over the world as a member of the renowned Dutch Schönberg Quartet. She is cellist of  Ensemble Schönbrunn, principal cellist of the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht and The Kings Consort. Viola has been professor of baroque cello, cello and chamber music at the conservatories of Amsterdam, Utrecht and Bremen since 1990.