Allegro ma non tanto
Andante scherzoso quasi allegretto
Menuetto. Allegretto
Allegro – Prestissimo

C minor was a key that Beethoven used for some of his most dramatic music – works like the Fifth Symphony, the Pathétique Sonata, and the Coriolan Overture – and Sir George Grove wrote that “the pieces for which he has employed it are, with very few exceptions, remarkable for their beauty and importance.” The fourth of the Op.18 quartets has something of the turbulent mood of other pieces in C minor. The first movement is uneasy, though surprisingly, perhaps, this is especially apparent in the so-called Minuet third movement that has a particularly dark, brooding kind of energy. But there’s something paradoxical about this work: Beethoven has no real slow movement, and instead he has written a playful Andante in C major. The rondo finale is reminiscent of Haydn, written in the ‘Hungarian’ style he often used (but a rarity in Beethoven). An exciting minor-key main theme is interspersed with gentler episodes, culminating in a wild dash to the finish.

Nigel Simeone 2013