String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor

Less expansive than its predecessor, Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 8 in E minor (the second of his “Razumovsky” quartets) is no less imposing in overall conception. The opening “Allegro” launches straight in with an impetuous theme, its more relaxed successor given relatively little space here or in a charged development. Equally notable is the music’s brusque dispersal in the coda. Intended to be played “with great feeling”, the “Molto adagio” is allegedly inspired by Beethoven’s speculating on the music of the heavenly spheres, its raptly inward intensity not without anxiety as to what might lie beyond. More a swift intermezzo than a scherzo, the “Allegretto” features a tense theme over a halting accompaniment, its trio based on a Russian melody (fulfilling Count Razumovsky’s request that each of these quartets include one) known as “Glory to the Sun” and used by Mussorgsky in his opera Boris Godunov. Both themes of the final “Presto” are allotted to first violin, here a prima donna that leads into a headlong coda to bring the work decisively full circle.