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Donald Macleod is joined by guests Laura Tunbridge and Edward Dusinberre to explore Beethoven’s revolutionary return to the string quartet in the final two years of his life.

Just two years before he died, Beethoven returned to an old treasured form, the string quartet. The five quartets he ended up writing would come to be his final major works, and would change the paradigm beyond recognition. Though dismissed by audiences in their day, their composition is now considered a pivotal moment not only in Beethoven’s life, but in the history of classical music. Donald is joined by musicologist Laura Tunbridge, and violinist Edward Dusinberre of the Takács Quartet, to discuss these extraordinary, watershed works that have bewildered and beguiled listeners ever since their creation. Throughout the week, they focus on each of the five late quartets, uncovering the stories, circumstances and conversations that surround them.

Today, a commission from a Russian Prince and the return of an old friend prompts Beethoven to pick up his sketchbook again, and we hear from the first of the late quartets, Op 127.

Composer of the Week is returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020 as part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

String Quartet No 12 in E flat, Op 127 (1st movement)
Alban Berg Quartet

String Quartet No 12 in E flat, Op 127 (2nd movement)
Takács Quartet

Symphony No 9 (Finale, part 1)
Berlin Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan, conductor

String Quartet No 12 in E flat, Op 127 (3rd movement)
Tokyo Quartet

String Quartet No 12 in E flat, Op 127 (4th movement)
Emerson Quartet

Produced in Cardiff by Amelia Parker