Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131

In his vast catalogue, Bernstein considered this 1979 recording of Beethoven’s Op. 131 to be one of his favourites. That’s due, in part, to the fact that the full-string version was made by Bernstein’s mentor, the Greek composer, pianist and conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos. He was blown away when he first heard it as a student at Harvard. The strings of the Vienna Philharmonic play magnificently, and it’s clear that their sound is exactly what Bernstein had in mind. The final quartet, Op. 135, recorded in Bernstein’s last year, is just as rewarding—the fibre and weave of this extraordinary score beautifully adapting to this expanded vision.