Beethoven: The String Quartets (complete)

"Fresh and resplendent . . . expectedly vital and virtuosic" -The New York Times

This complete recording of Beethoven's Quartets represents a high point in the recording career of the Grammy and Gramophone Award-winning Emerson String Quartet, and will prove fascinating listening for all aficionados of the Beethoven quartets. As the New York Times critic put it, "No quartet has ever definitively encompassed the whole cycle and the Emerson is better prepared than nearly all modern competitors for the challenge".

The Emersons have been Deutsche Grammophon exclusive artists since 1987 and have since then made numerous prizewinning recordings of works by composers from Mozart to the present. Among their most outstanding cycles is a recording of the complete Bartók String Quartets which won both the US-Grammy 'Best Chamber Music Recording' 1990 and the 'Best Classical Album' 1989 - making them the first string quartet to win both awards in the history of the Grammy. The same recording was named 'Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year' and 'Record of the Year' by Gramophone Magazine. Although the Beethoven Quartets have belonged to their repertoire since early in their careers, the Emersons have waited until now to commit the entire cycle to disc.

This release features the complete recordings on 7 CDs in a deluxe slipcase package, and at a special price of 7CDS for the price of 6.

Their performances of the Complete Quartets of Beethoven in concert halls throughout the world in recent years have included memorable cycles in London and Japan. Reviewing their London cycle, The Strad wrote in April 1996 that "hearing the Emersons in concert is always thrilling for the sheer physical excitement of their playing and nobody can beat them for pure technical refinement". According to the BBC Music Magazine writing in February 1996, they are quite simply "the best string quartet in the U.S. today".