Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 18, Vol. 1

Album review

The six string quartets of Beethoven's Op. 18 could not have been an easy undertaking for a young man who, though already wildly successful, was still trying to make his mark on all the popular genres of the time. Although he was not as self critical as the young Brahms was to be, Beethoven nevertheless subjected many of his early works -- including his first string quartets -- to a number of revisions and alterations. The resulting set of six Op. 18 quartets already demonstrate Beethoven's mastery of the genre, as well as hints at the changes in structure and form that he was to bring. Like Beethoven at the time, the Sacconi Quartet is a group of young artists eager to make their mark on the world. Having already racked up a number of competition victories, established their own music festival, and created their own recording label (on which this recording of quartets 1, 4, and 6 of Op. 18 appear), Sacconi is well on its way. Hearing the precision and vitality it brings to these quartets makes its success easy to understand. It has already achieved a surprisingly well-balanced sound that can blend together and separate out into distinctive parts with marvelous fluidity. The interpretations are energetic but controlled, never playing fast for the sake of bravura. Recorded sound throughout the disc is clear and resonate. This is certainly an ensemble to keep an eye on, with hopes that more of Beethoven's quartets will follow.

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