Beethoven: The Late Quartets

Beethoven’s last five string quartets are daunting in their emotional and spiritual complexity. The Calidore String Quartet presents them as an intimate personal journey, carefully avoiding any sense of overblown drama in their interpretations. The opening movement of Quartet No. 14 has a heartaching introspection, and even in the most heated passages of String Quartet No. 13’s “Grosse Fuge,” the players retain an essential poise and dignity. String Quartet No. 15’s great slow movement—“A convalescent’s song of thanks to the Godhead,” as Beethoven called it—unfolds with a deeply moving sense of fellow feeling. The unfailing wisdom and empathy of the Calidore’s performances place them high in the pantheon of great recordings.