The fourth of the Op. 18 quartets is the only one in a minor key – c, a key of drama for the composer (think of the Fifth Symphony). It seems to be the second most popular of this set of quartets (after Op. 18, No. 1); it’s also distinguished by lacking a slow movement (for which the composer substitutes an Andante Scherzoso).
I. Allegro ma non tanto 0:04
II. Andante scherzoso quasi allegretto 8:59
III. Menuetto – Allegretto 14:54
IV. Allegro – Prestissimo 18:17
Of the remaining two quartets, the fifth, in A, is the shyest of set of six; while the sixth, in B-flat, has an odd mixture of styles and also has a mysterious slow introduction entitled La Malinconia to its finale.
I. Allegro con brio 0:06
II. Adagio ma non troppo 6:53
III. Scherzo – Allegro 14:24
IV. La Malinconia: Adagio – Allegretto quasi Allegro 18:14
Then there’s a gap of six years, during which Beethoven produced some of his finest music (the Eroica Symphony, the Waldstein and Appassionata piano sonatas, the Fourth Piano Concerto, etc.) When he returned to the string quartet it was (partially) at the behest of the man pictured below, who has achieved popular fame, not – as he might have expected – as the Russian Ambassador to the Hapsburg Court in Vienna, but as the dedicatee of the three Op. 59 quartets by Beethoven, known as the Razumovsky Quartets (of which, more to follow…)
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The Art of Listening 