Late Beethoven: opus 135
with Hagen Quartett
22:30 / Sun 30 Jan / Muziekgebouw Main Hall / € 17,50
Core Repertoire Late Beethoven Late Night
Hagen Quartett
Lukas Hagen (viool)
Rainer Schmidt (viool)
Veronika Hagen (altviool)
Clemens Hagen (cello)
Beethoven
String Quartet no. 16, op. 135
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is a resounding apotheosis of his symphonic oeuvre. One might expect a similar big statement from his final string quartet, but Beethoven’s string quartet opus 135 is in many ways significantly lighter than its predecessors and actually raises more questions than answers. “The Difficult Decision,” Beethoven wrote in the score above the last movement. “Muss es sein? Es muss sein!” he wrote in the music. Is it the philosophical conclusion to the life of one of the greatest composers of all time? Or is it simply a reference to an outstanding debt that still had to be paid? Beethoven leaves the answer to us.
Beethoven's late quartets are like books by Murakami or David Lynch's Twin Peaks. We can only understand them to a certain extent, but it is precisely this mystery of the unattainable, that genius hint of the superhuman, that creates an irresistible feeling of fear of missing out. An never-fading urge to fathom.