Beethoven - String Quintets
The Nash Ensemble
…the String in E flat, Op. 4… is agreeable, relaxed and undemanding… The Quintet in C major, Op. 29, … is an impressive work… sensuously appealing, and … intricate in structure… I can’t envisage...
Beethoven - String Quintets
The Nash Ensemble
Purchase product
…the String in E flat, Op. 4… is agreeable, relaxed and undemanding… The Quintet in C major, Op. 29, … is an impressive work… sensuously appealing, and … intricate in structure… I can’t envisage...
About
Britain’s most versatile chamber ensemble turns its attention to two works from seminal moments in Beethoven’s career. Beethoven’s String Quintet in E flat major Op 4 is a radical rethinking and expansion of an Octet for pairs of wind instruments which was written in Vienna in 1793 where there was an insatiable demand for jolly alfresco wind band music. In 1795 Beethoven transformed the work by setting it for strings, making it suaver and more sophisticated.
Throughout the Quintet, and especially in the first movement, the textures are at once lighter and more flexible than those of the Octet, full of the free, informal contrapuntal interplay that is among the glories of the Viennese classical style.
With Beethoven’s String Quintet in C major Op 29, his sole work conceived for the medium, we move to 1801 and the final phase of his so-called ‘first period’. This strangely neglected masterpiece is Janus-headed, at once retrospective and prophetic. He never wrote a more voluptuously Mozartian slow movement than the Adagio molto espressivo. On the other hand, the tranquil expansiveness and harmonic breadth of the quintet’s first movement prefigure masterpieces like the first ‘Razumovsky’ String Quartet, Op 59 No 1, and the ‘Archduke’ Piano Trio.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
January 2009
…the String in E flat, Op. 4… is agreeable, relaxed and undemanding… The Quintet in C major, Op. 29, … is an impressive work… sensuously appealing, and … intricate in structure… I can’t envisage a more satisfying account of these works.
The rich-toned violas of Lawrence Power and Philip Dukes lend an almost orchestral sonority to the superb playing of The Nash Ensemble, beautifully caught by producer Andrew Keener
2010
The Nash Ensemble here give flawless, superbly disciplined performances of Beethoven's two string quintets. Op 4 is the composer's transcription of the wind octet that he wrote in emulation of Mozart's great examples of Harmoniemusik, the wind octets in E flat and C minor.
Op 29, on the other hand, is Beethoven's first completely original exploitation of the genre.
It is fascinating to find how Beethoven developed his arguments by rewriting wind music for strings, as Richard Wigmore explains in his excellent note. Key modulations are more adventurous and textures lightened, making this by far the finer work. The Nash players, carefully balanced and helped by the transparent recording, bring out the inner lines with admirable clarity. The slow movement, marked simply andante, is free-flowing with a warmly lyrical violin solo, while the mis-titled Menuetto piùallegretto is the most dashing scherzo, full of wit, and the finale is a dance-like rondo. The performance of Op 29 in C brings similar qualities, with clean separation and well chosen speeds on the fast side. What especially comes out is the originality of the finale, with its bizarre opening, chromatic passages and striking dynamic contrasts.
Warmly welcomed for its first-rate sound and immaculate performances.
February 2009
…flawless, superbly disciplined performances of Beethoven's two string quintets. The Nash players, carefully balanced and helped by the transparent recording, bring out the inner lines with admirable clarity. …first-rate sound…
[Op 29] A work of conspicuous originality, power and wit, as The Nash Ensemble demonstrate in their eloquent, sprightly performance … [Op 4] The Nash also give a lively account of an even greater rarity, the early E flat Quintet … something genuinely worthwhile
