1807: A New Quartet

1807, Vienna. When musicians first encounter Beethoven’s new Razumovsky Quartets, many are baffled. Written for the Russian ambassador, Count Razumovsky, they are longer, more complex and more adventurous than any string quartets that had come before - making new demands on both performers and listeners.

In an era when quartet playing is largely a domestic pastime, Beethoven reinvents the form as a vehicle for his most daring innovations. At the same time, Beethoven is wrestling with the desperate crisis of losing his hearing. He pours his fears, hopes, pain and determination into his music - creating some of the most ambitious chamber music ever written and expanding forever what what music is capable of expressing.

Gillian Moore is joined by a roster of distinguished historians for this major new BBC Radio 3 series, charting a course through 1000 years of classical music history. Today, Simon Schama is in the chair, as together they explore the rich musical world of the Classical and Early Romantic era.

Producer: Chris Taylor
Academic Consultant: Professor Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford
Story Consultant: Kate Leys
Series Editor for BBC Audio: Emma Harding

Key Changes theme tune composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Kerem Hasan.

MUSIC DETAILS

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 “Razumovsky” – I. Allegro
Emerson String Quartet

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major “Eroica” – Finale
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Claudio Abbado (conductor)

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 “Razumovsky” – II. Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando
Takács Quartet

Ludwig van Beethoven: Grosse Fuge, Op. 133
Takács Quartet

Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D810 “Death and the Maiden” – Scherzo
Belcea Quartet

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 131 – I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo
Quatuor Ébène

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