Beethoven for a Later Age

Book excerpt: Using the history of the composition of Beethoven's string quartets as the backbone to his story, Edward Dusinberre - leader of the Takacs Quartet - recounts the life of the Quartet from its inception in Hungary, through emigration to the US and its present-day life of world renown. He also describes what it was like for him, as a young man fresh out of Julliard, to join the quartet as its (non-Hungarian) leader - a challenging task. Beethoven for a Later Age takes the reader inside the life of a quartet, vividly showing how four people make music together over a long period of time without becoming stale, or falling out. The key, the author argues, is in continual change and experiment - and these are at the heart of Beethoven's remarkable compositions for quartet.