Beethoven contracted pneumonia on a trip in an open carriage through terrible weather in the autumn of 1826. He completed his last complete work, Opus 135, on 30 October 1826 and he died in March 1827. After the epic scope of his penultimate quartet, one would expect Beethoven’s swan song to be a grand finale. Sure, this music is deep and introspective, but here Beethoven also achieves a concise transparency that alludes to his teacher Haydn. This is how he completes the circle.

A guide to life, this is how many musicians see Beethoven’s late string quartets. This music is so incomprehensibly good that, as a player, you can hardly get a grip on it. You keep trying, the road to performance is as important as the sounding result. Beethoven captures the essence of existence in these monumental works. At the peak of his powers, he produced wonders of the world.