String Quartet No.4, Op. 18 (Beethoven)
Movements
i Allegro ma non tanto (C minor), ii Andante scherzoso quasi allegretto (C major), iii Menuetto: Allegretto (C minor) – Trio (E♠major), iv Allegro – Prestissimo (C minor)
Notes
Beethoven’s String Quartet in C minor is an eccentric work, by turns moody, mocking, musing and manic. The beat stays at the upper range of the human heartbeat, with nothing slower than a stately Andante in its four characterful movements. There is no slow movement at all, no moment of lyrical repose amid the onrush of musical ideas. More eccentric still, there is both a scherzo and a minuet (normally the former replaces the latter), and even these seem to be cross-dressing, conflicted as they are over their ‘genre identity’.
