Credits:

Schubert

Description:

This is exactly how it should be. The Hagen String Quartet’s brilliant Beethoven No. 3 was written in 1798, the first of the six pieces in the same Op. 18 cycle. It is filled with youthful passion in a classical form, and the yearning mood at the beginning of the work is fragrant and beautiful, as if conveying the fragrance of spring. No. 5, written around 1800, is the fourth piece in the Op. 18 cycle, and is a soft piece reminiscent of Mozart’s music, full of extended melodies. Especially, the simple and gentle music of the minuet in the second movement tickles the heart. Beethoven’s last string quartet, No. 16, was written in 1826, and although he had written large quartets from No. 12 to No. 15, here he returned to the classical four-movement form and wrote extremely elegant music. The introduction of the last movement is entitled “Muss es sein” (Must it be so?). The first theme is marked “Es mu