The Cycle of String Quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven stands at the center of any string quartet’s repertoire. As an artistic unity they are a culmination of all the European chamber music composed before them, and they cast a long shadow on every string quartet composed after them even up until the present day. Each work individually is a masterpiece that challenges both the listener and the player, but heard as an artistic whole the complete cycle becomes one of the great life changing experiences in the western art canon, both for the listeners and the players. . But the nature of this great music is that there is always more in it to discover, there is always a new way to hear it, feel it, play it, know it. If in this collection we in the Miró Quartet have in any way captured one tiny part of the genius that is Beethoven in these works, revealed one new gleaming facet of the precious jewel that they are, shown one new listener a hint of the universe that they contain, we can be truly grateful and satisfied. Creating these quartets was one of Beethoven’s greatest life’s works, and in so many ways this recording has been one of ours.
