Healing Modes

At the heart of Beethoven’s Op. 132 string quartet lies one of the composer’s most glorious pieces of music—a “holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity,” as he called it. Here, US quartet Brooklyn Rider invite five composers to respond to this masterpiece with music on the theme of healing, whether social, bodily or spiritual. From Reena Esmail’s “Zeher”, a portrait of the composer’s battle with infection, to Gabriela Lena Frank’s long road to recovery and Caroline Shaw’s thrumming ode to refuge, each work is scattered in among the movements of Beethoven’s late masterpiece. Ancient and modern in magical synthesis. These new works are scintillating, the Beethoven sublime. And Brooklyn Rider are enthralling.