Beethoven's Evolution

The essential read for fans of Beethoven and string quartet music.

'No one has ever written a group of works that post so many questions about the form and emotional content of a string quartet, and come up with so many answers.'

A rite of passage. A set of works that trace Beethoven's evolution as an avant-gardist. Some of the most extraordinary and challenging pieces of music ever written. A monument for the future. Together, Beethoven's sixteen string quartets mean many things, but for Edward Dusinberre, first violinist of the celebrated Takács Quartet since 1993, they are defined by how finely they balance continuity and experimentation. It's the same balancing act that he argues is the secret to his and his colleagues delighting in playing together over so many years.

Dusinberre intertwines the history of Beethoven's remarkable quartets with the life of the Takács over the past half century. Beethoven's Evolution shows vividly how the richness, depth, and breadth of Beethoven's musical imagination can generate a lifetime of discovery.