String Quartet No. 10 "Harp" in E‑Flat Major

Beethoven composed his superb String Quartet No. 10 in 1809. It’s a work that absorbs all the advances in string-quartet writing that he had made in the epoch-making "Razumovsky" Quartets, but it also provides moments that point forward to the unique, often rarefied sound world of his late quartets. As in the Third "Razumovsky" Quartet, Beethoven opens the first movement with a slow introduction, characterized by mysterious harmonies and unexpectedly loud interjections. Among the most striking characteristics of the ensuing “Allegro” are the frequent textures dominated by plucked strings, which gave rise to the quartet’s nickname, and an extraordinary passage near the end where the first violin suddenly takes flight with a brilliantly virtuosic sequence of fast-moving notes. A serenely expressive second movement, “Adagio ma non troppo,” which explores a spiritual ambience that looks forward to the composer’s late period, is followed by a muscular and propulsive “Presto” dominated by the same repeated rhythmic pattern that appears at the opening of his Fifth Symphony. The finale, following without a break, opens in an almost nonchalant manner with a simple theme upon which Beethoven constructs a series of amazingly inventive variations.