Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets

Recorded in late 2020 at the Philharmonie in Paris, home city of Quatuor Ébène, this complete DVD cycle of the Beethoven String Quartets, directed by Sébastien Glas, complements the complete audio cycle recorded by the Ébène in 2019 and early 2020; entitled Beethoven Around the World, the CDs drew on performances in Paris and six other great cities on five continents. The impact of the Ébène’s approach to Beethoven – both exhilarating and illuminating – was summed up by the respected magazine The Strad, which spoke of “white-hot interpretative intensity and fantasy” as the players “peel back layers of stultifying accretion and rediscover the shock value of this music for a contemporary audience … they play not as they should, but as they feel they must.”