As our journey through all the Beethoven quartets reaches its middle point, we are tackling perhaps the most demanding and the greatest of all the string quartets written to this day - the monumental op.131. Playing it is a particularly thrilling experience for us, which is why I chose to focus on this work alone today. Certainly for some of us in the Belcea Quartet it was hearing this piece early on in our lives that marked us with our passion for playing string quartets... 

Missed the latest installment of the Beethoven series? Not to worry, catch it on BBC Radio 3 this Sunday

BBC - BBC Radio 3 Programmes - Sunday Concert, The Belcea Quartet Plays Beethoven

The first Beethoven recording is finished! We had a very intense weekend in Snape, playing the programme twice in Snape's new Britten Studio to two different audiences on two consecutive days...

Find out more about life as a quartet and the quartet's rehearsals in this weeks Classical Music Magazine.