Stemm

On this 1974 recording, Beethoven's Septet, Op. 20 – despised by the composer but still a popular piece of light music – is paired with the less familiar Sextet, Op. 71. The Sextet is an early work despite its high opus number, first written around the time Beethoven moved to Vienna but not offered to a publisher until the era of the mighty Symphony No. 5. This work too Beethoven disparaged, but as annotator Gerhard Pätzig rightly noted, he knew he was releasing something worthwhile – an exceptionally accomplished realization of Classical models.