Beethoven Cuarteto Casals

Spain's Cuarteto Casals has resolved to mark its 20th anniversary in a suitably ambitious way, by recording a complete cycle of the Beethoven string quartets and taking them on the road throughout Europe, paired with new works composed especially for the occasion. The group has rightfully gained attention for its performances of core repertoire from Haydn to Schubert, and this first volume of the cycle does not disappoint.

Launching their complete cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets, the Cuarteto Casals present this first installment featuring initial examples of the genre from each of the three key periods in the composer’s career: his formative years, the socalled ‘heroic’ middle period and that of his artistic maturity. The ingenious juxtaposition reveals how his superhuman struggle for perfection informed a musical language of breathtaking originality in tandem with a depth of expression without precedent in this genre, of which Beethoven is the uncontested master.