String Quartet No.5, Op.18 (Beethoven)
Movements
i Allegro, ii Menuetto – Trio, iii Andante cantabile (Theme with variations), iv Allegro assai
Notes
Playful and elegant, this 1801 quartet from a set if six conveys an entertaining sparkle. Modelled on an earlier Mozart quartet in the same key – Beethoven provides a lightness and grace that culminates in the final movement with contrapuntal fizz. As a counterbalance to this, the third movement provides a theme and variations that harmonically and rhythmically explores contentment, whimsy, soulfulness, and jubilation all with a textural grounding that reminds the listener this is still a serious quartet – despite the joviality explored in the other movements.
