The third and final instalment in their award-winning series, the Calidore Quartet return with a three-disc release of Beethoven Early Quartets. Their previous Beethoven recordings have been described as ‘highly collectible’ by BBC Music Magazine. The first album of Late Quartets won the Chamber Music Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024, and the second awarded Recording of the Month by Gramophone Magazine. “Our interpretation speaks to the influences of our teachers and the great traditions associated with this repertoire, but also to that of our own generation, contemporary research, style and experience. Though this music speaks in a language that is hundreds of years old, its message remains immediate, relevant and comforting to listeners of today and of generations to come even, and especially, in the most challenging of times”.

★★★★★ – Ritmo

“Very enthusiastically recommended” – Gramophone

★★★★ “With playing of this calibre the results are always exhilarating” – BBC Music Magazine

Calidore String Quartet

Release date: 24/01/2025

Catalogue number: SIGCD883

Barcode: 635212088326

CD#1

[1] String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18 No. 1: I. Allegro con brio

[2] String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18 No. 1: II. Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato

[3] String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18 No. 1: III. Scherzo. Allegro molto

[4] String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18 No. 1: IV. Allegro

[5] String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18 No. 2: I. Allegro

[6] String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18 No. 2: II. Adagio cantabile

[7] String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18 No. 2: III. Scherzo. Allegro

[8] String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18 No. 2: IV. Allegro molto, quasi presto

CD#2

[1] String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 18 No. 3: I. Allegro

[2] String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 18 No. 3: II. Andante con moto

[3] String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 18 No. 3: III. Allegro

[4] String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 18 No. 3: IV. Presto

[5] String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4: I. Allegro, ma non tanto

[6] String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4: II. Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto

[7] String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4: III. Menuetto. Allegro

[8] String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4: IV. Allegretto. Prestissimo

CD#3

[1] String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18 No. 5: I. Allegro

[2] String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18 No. 5: II. Minuet

[3] String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18 No. 5: III. Andante cantabile

[4] String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18 No. 5: IV. Allegro

[5] String Quartet No. 6 in B flat major, Op. 18 No. 6: I. Allegro con brio

[6] String Quartet No. 6 in B flat major, Op. 18 No. 6: II. Adagio, ma non troppo

[7] String Quartet No. 6 in B flat major, Op. 18 No. 6: III. Scherzo. Allegro

[8] String Quartet No. 6 in B flat major, Op. 18 No. 6: IV. La Malinconia. Adagio. Questo pezzo si deve trattare colla più gran delicatezza. Allegretto quasi Allegro

Beethoven Quartets, Vol. 3: The Early Quartets