String Quartet No. 9 in C Major

Shorter than either of its predecessors, Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 9 in C major (the third of his “Razumovsky” quartets) has been considered a return to the more Classical proportions of his Op. 18 quartets. Yet the speculative “Andante” introduction to its first movement is hardly backward-looking, and makes its presence felt in the ensuing “Allegro vivace”, a bracing take on the format established by Haydn. Most arresting is the “Andante con moto”, its “quasi allegretto” marking implying a walking pace, and whose starkly modal harmonies evoke desolate vistas that might be Russian in inspiration (unlike the other two quartets, this alludes to no identifiable Russian folk tune). Marked “Grazioso”, the third movement brings a belated return of the minuet Beethoven had long since abandoned for the scherzo, its charm and humour essentially a foil to the “Allegro molto” finale. Emerging out of a brief transition, this maintains its intensive fugal interplay and its perpetuum mobile tempo through to the hectic closing bars as Beethoven ends his Razumovsky trilogy with real panache.