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The Beethoven Quartet Companion | 
 enlarge | Creators: Robert Winter, Robert Martin
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $14.81
You Save: $8.14 (35%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 101811
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 300
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.8
ISBN: 0520204204
Dewey Decimal Number: 781
EAN: 9780520204201
ASIN: 0520204204
Publication Date: December 8, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
While the Beethoven string quartets are to chamber music what the plays of Shakespeare are to drama, even seasoned concertgoers will welcome guidance with these personal and sometimes enigmatic works.
This collection offers Beethoven lovers both detailed notes on the listening experience of each quartet and a stimulating range of more general perspectives: Who has the quartets' audience been? How were the quartets performed before the era of sound recordings? What is the relationship between "classical" and "romantic" in the quartets? How was their reception affected by social and economic history? What sorts of interpretive decisions are made by performers today?
The Companion brings together a matchless group of Beethoven experts. Joseph Kerman is perhaps the world's most renowned Beethoven scholar. Robert Winter, an authority on sketches for the late quartets, has created interactive programs regarded as milestones in multimedia publishing. Maynard Solomon has written an acclaimed biography of Beethoven. Leon Botstein is the conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra as well as a distinguished social historian and college president. Robert Martin writes from his experience as cellist of the Sequoia Quartet. And the book is anchored by the program notes of Michael Steinberg, who has served as Artistic Advisor of the San Francisco Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra.
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| Customer Reviews:
Superb discussions on Beethoven's String Quartets August 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book consists of a collection of essays about topics relevant to Beethoven's work on his sixteen string quartets, as well as a quartet-by-quartet analysis, much like you would see in program notes (only more thorough). The essay writers approach the quartets from several different angles: some write as musical performers while others as professional musicologists, but all are of excellent quality and give you insight into a particular aspect of Beethoven and his music.
Another great characteristic of this book is its accessibility. Even though it would help to know how to read music, that is more or less the extent of the technical knowledge you need to enjoy this book. Because Beethoven's string quartets form a central part of his musical output, understanding these pieces is crucial to understanding his musical career (similarly for his piano sonatas and symphonies), and this book provides an excellent starting point for learning about the string quartets in-depth. After reading the enclosed essays, you'll want to listen to his quartets again (or anew!), with this book as your guide.
Despite appearances, this deserves to be included with the set of Michael Steinberg program books October 9, 2006
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
It is nowhere preconized that the core of this fine book (half its pages, in fact) is extensive notes on the pieces themselves by the gold-standard musicologist and annotator Michael Steinberg. While there is much fascinating historical and contextual material by the editors and others, anyone who has enjoyed and learned from Steinberg's famous series the Symphony, the Concerto, and Choral Masterworks should know that this is effectively a fourth volume of his superb notes.
Essential for LVB lovers, and not *just* LVB quartet lovers July 17, 1998
40 out of 41 found this review helpful
This book should have been called simply "The Beethoven Companion." While it focues on the string quartets, it deals with many facets of the composer's life, and with life in Vienna at the time. Detailed but never dull, thorough but never technical, the book describes performance practice, takes you into the minds of interpretors, and deals with such fascinating philosophical considerations as Romanticism vs. Classicism, the meaning of the so-called "last period," and audience expectations in Beethoven's time. Essays by Beethoven scholars are thought-provoking. I know a fair amount about Ludwig, but time and again I found myself learning new things, or reconsidering old wisdom. I have many books on the Quartets, and on Beethoven in general. This one ranks among the very top of the heap.
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