Beethoven: Late String Quartets

The Guarneri Quartet has forgotten more about the late quartets of Beethoven than most other ensembles will ever know. They understand the profound lyrical impulse behind these works, and they manage the paradoxical feat of imparting a sublime sense of inevitability to the music while achieving spontaneity at the same time. The interpretations serve the music admirably, though the sound is somewhat veiled. Although the set is rather awkwardly laid out--Op. 127 is split between two discs, and the Grosse Fuge appears on a separate disc from Op. 130, to which it was the original finale--the insights are worth the trouble. --Ted Libbey