Elusive Harmony

Donald Macleod is joined again by guests Laura Tunbridge and Edward Dusinberre to uncover the relationships that were important to Beethoven whilst writing his late quartets.

Just two years before he died, Beethoven returned to an old treasured form, the string quartet. The five quartets he ended up writing would come to be his final major works, and would change the paradigm beyond recognition. Though dismissed by audiences in their day, their composition is now considered a pivotal moment not only in Beethoven’s life, but in the history of classical music. Donald is joined by musicologist Laura Tunbridge, and violinist Edward Dusinberre of the Takács Quartet, to discuss these extraordinary, watershed works that have bewildered and beguiled listeners ever since their creation. Throughout the week, they focus on each of the five late quartets, uncovering the stories, circumstances and conversations that surround them.

Today, Beethoven’s musical colleagues are the butt of his jokes, and his turbulent relationship with nephew Karl reaches breaking point, as we focus on the fourth of the late quartets, Op 131.

Composer of the Week is returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020 as part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

Piano Sonata No 30, Op 109 (1st movement)
Richard Goode, piano

String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op 131 (1st movement)
Alban Berg Quartet

String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op 131 (2nd, 3rd and 4th movements)
Takács Quartet

Lob auf der Dicken, WoO 100
Falstafferel, WoO 184
Berliner Solisten
Kammerchor der Berliner Singakademie
Dietrich Knothe, conductor

String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op 131 (5th, 6th and 7th movements)
Tokyo Quartet

Produced in Cardiff by Amelia Parker