Album

In its mid-'70s recordings of Beethoven's late string quartets, the LaSalle Quartet often comes close to greatness, but only once does it achieve greatness. One cannot argue with the tone or intonation or the ensemble: all are as near to flawless as any quartet has ever gotten. One cannot argue with the group's intention, intensity, or interpretations: all are as close to ideal as it is possible to imagine. But Beethoven's late quartets are beyond the demands of technique or the requirements of interpretations: they are prayers turned into music, meditations by one of the most profound composers who ever lived, contemplations written at the end of his life on the infinite and eternal. And the LaSalle only touches the infinite once in all six of the quartets. Thankfully that one time was in the String Quartet in C sharp minor, perhaps the greatest string quartet ever written. In the C sharp minor, the LaSalle's performance is as numinous as the work itself. But while the LaSalle comes very close to the infinite in the B flat major quartet, there is a hairsbreadth of distance between the group and the eternal. And while in the E flat major, the F major, and the Grosse Fuge, one can almost hear the eternal in the performance, it is darkly, as though through a glass. This is well worth hearing at least once, but only the C sharp minor demands re-listening.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide

CD 1 of 3
Ludwig van Beethoven Composer String Quartet No.12 in Eb, Op.127 Work Recorded 1976 36:06 LaSalle Quartet String Quartet
1	1.Maestoso. Allegro	6:15			$0.99
2	2.Adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantabile	14:42			$2.49
3	3.Scherzando vivace	8:24			$1.49
4	4.Finale: Allegro	6:45			$0.99
Ludwig van Beethoven Composer String Quartet No.14 in C#-, Op.131 Work Recorded 1977 38:46 LaSalle Quartet String Quartet
5	1.Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo	6:53			$0.99
6	2.Allegro molto vivace	2:58			$0.99
7	3.Allegro moderato	0:45			$0.49
8	4.Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile	13:32			$2.49
9	5.Presto	6:04			$0.99
10	6.Adagio quasi un poco andante	1:55			$0.49
11	7.Allegro	6:39			$0.99
CD 2 of 3
Ludwig van Beethoven Composer String Quartet No.13 in Bb, Op.130 ('Lieb') Work Recorded 1972 29:39 Jack Kirstein Cello, LaSalle Quartet String Quartet
1	1.Adagio ma non troppo. Allegro	9:57			$1.49
2	2.Presto	2:05			$0.99
3	3.Andante con moto ma non troppo	6:48			$0.99
4	4.Alla danza tedesca: Allegro assai	3:27			$0.99
5	5.Cavatina: Adagio molto espressivo	7:22			$1.49
Ludwig van Beethoven Composer Grosse Fuge for String Quartet in Bb, Op.133 Work Recorded 1972 Jack Kirstein Cello, LaSalle Quartet String Quartet
6	Grosse Fuge for String Quartet in Bb, Op.133	16:04			$2.99
Ludwig van Beethoven Composer String Quartet No.13 in Bb, Op.130 ('Lieb') Work Recorded 1976 Jack Kirstein Cello, LaSalle Quartet String Quartet
7	6.Finale: Allegro (alternative version)	9:29			$1.49
CD 3 of 3
Ludwig van Beethoven Composer String Quartet No.15 in A-, Op.132 ('Heiliger Dankgesang') Work Recorded 1975 41:14 LaSalle Quartet String Quartet
1	1.Assai sostenuto. Allegro	9:08			$1.49
2	2.Allegro ma non tanto	8:45			$1.49
3	3.Molto adagio ('Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Ton')	14:57			$2.49
4	4.Alla marcia, assai vivace	2:05			$0.99
5	5.Allegro appassionato	6:19			$0.99
Ludwig van Beethoven Composer String Quartet No.16 in F, Op.135 Work Recorded 1976 24:26 LaSalle Quartet String Quartet
6	1.Allegretto	6:34			$0.99
7	2.Vivace	3:30			$0.99
8	3.Lento assai e cantante tranquillo	7:23			$1.49
9	4.Der schwer gefasste Entschluß: Grave ma non troppo tratto. Allegro	6:59			$0.99