Beethoven’s music has been an integral part of our quartet since the beginning. In our first reading together as students at the Colburn School, we used Beethoven’s Op 18 No 1 as a test to see if the four of us had the requisite chemistry to pursue a future together. It was a natural choice since most of us had been studying the Beethoven quartets since our early teens. From that first moment the power of this music fuelled a desire in each of us to make a life of playing string quartets.

The process of learning how to play Beethoven quartets and how to function together as a string quartet were one in the same. The transparency of texture in the Op 18s was the perfect environment in which to hone our ensemble and approach to style, articulation and phrase structure. The middle period built our technical foundation while broadening our emotional scope. With the late quartets we really glimpse inside Beethoven’s soul, the vulnerability, anguish and hope. To traverse such topics both musically and in words during our rehearsals ultimately gave us deeper insight into one another.

Performing an all-Beethoven programme, inherently full of technical and emotional gymnastics, requires an unrelenting focus. Executing the subito dynamic and character shifts, the intricate ensemble and passagework, all while expressing his intimate and grand emotional gestures, is no small feat. Already in our first year of playing together we performed an all-Beethoven programme and were made keenly aware of exactly how thrilling yet exhausting it can be.

It was a long road of preparation to record the cycle and perform it at Lincoln Center. We undertook our first cycles in the 2019/20 season amidst the 250th Anniversary Beethoven celebrations. Some of these plans were interrupted by the pandemic, but the time off from concerts gave us the space to focus on recording. Most recently, we performed the entire cycle at the Music@Menlo Festival and are midway through performing the cycle also at the University of Delaware, where we serve as the UD Distinguished String Quartet in Residence. Though we have conditioned ourselves for the rigour of the cycle, it never feels less intense or visceral.

Beethoven is always pushing us to never be completely satisfied with our music-making.

The importance of music education

Our recordings and performances of Beethoven are a tribute to our remarkable teachers. Many of us grew up listening to and worshipping the recorded cycles of the Alban Berg, Guarneri and Emerson Quartets. In our early touring, we spent long road trips surveying these cycles trying to understand what made these interpretations so different, yet so persuasive.

Later we were fortunate to call these quartets our mentors during our studies in Los Angeles, Montreal, Madrid and New York City. So much of our understanding of balance and articulation come from our studies with the violinists of the Alban Berg while the Emerson conveyed the importance of tempo relationships and varied atmospheres within the quartets. From our studies with Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarneri we learned to not only highlight our ensemble sound but to also shine a light on our individual musical personalities.

These varied approaches made us really consider Beethoven’s writing with an open mind and realise that though he was very intentional musically, there is always room for a spectrum of interpretation. Even to this day, we are reconsidering our choices and trying to always get closer to the spirit he imbues within these immortal works. Some audience members comment that our recent performances are different in some ways than our recording. We consider that a great compliment!

The Calidore String Quartet's recording of Beethoven's early string quartets is out now on Signum Records: signumrecords.com

Live dates:

March 2, 2025 - The Portico of Ards / Northern Ireland

March 3 2025 - Wigmore Hall / England