Late Beethoven

In Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 131, the music seems to be searching for freedom – of thought, of the soul. Perhaps that is why it speaks so powerfully to us, with its warmth, imagination and intensity. One of the works from Beethoven’s late period, the quartet spans seven movements and covers an extraordinary emotional range. Franz Schubert heard the piece and is said to have wondered what was left to write after music of such magnitude – a greatness that could not be put into words.

Composer Ethel Smyth stood out in Victorian England, and like Beethoven, she was a strong and uncompromising personality. Openly lesbian, she was a leading figure in the women’s suffrage movement. In 1922, she became the first female composer to be knighted. Her music is often warmly passionate, as in this slow movement for string quartet.

Between Smyth and Beethoven, we hear a quartet by Julius Röntgen – a German-Dutch composer and pianist who was married to Swedish composer and violinist Amanda Maier-Röntgen, known especially for her outstanding violin concerto. Röntgen’s quartet in A minor is a romantic and at times idyllic work.

The music is performed by the Maier Quartet, comprising members of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The quartet is named after Amanda Maier-Röntgen, and its members are violinists Johannes Lörstad and Patrik Swedrup, violist Arne Stenlund and cellist Klas Gagge.