Beethoven for a Later Age
Living with the String Quartets
Edward Dusinberre
- 273 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Beethoven for a Later Age
Living with the String Quartets
Edward Dusinberre
About This Book
"A richly detailed portrayal of the intimate workings of a great string quartet... as revealed to us through the recollections of its first violinist."âPhilip Roth Edward Dusinberre, first violinist of the renowned TakĂĄcs Quartet, offers a rare peek inside the workings of his ensemble, while providing an insightful history of Beethoven's sixteen string quartets and their performance. Founded in Hungary in 1975 and now based in Boulder, Colorado, the TakĂĄcs is one of the world's preeminent string quartets, and performances of Beethoven have been at the center of their work together for over forty years. Using the history of both the TakĂĄcs Quartet and the Beethoven quartets as a foundation, Beethoven for a Later Age provides a backstage look at the daily life of a quartet, showing the necessary creative tension between individual and group and how four people can at the same time forge a lasting artistic connection and enjoy making music together over decades. In an accessible style, suitable for novices and chamber music enthusiasts alike, Dusinberre illuminates the variety and contradictions of Beethoven's quartets, which were composed against the turbulent backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath, and he brings the technical aspects of the music to life.
"We are given intimate insight into the almost impossible-to-describe musical process of rehearsal and performance, the artistic and human interaction that links these modern musicians with their forebears and Beethoven himself."âGarrick Ohlsson, pianist
"This singular memoir... will be something between informative and revelatory to readers from musicians to music lovers."âJan Swafford, author of Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph