A thrilling display of Beethoven at his trickiest

By the Editorial Team · Friday, October 16, 2026

The Chiaroscuro Quartet has released a new recording of Beethoven’s late string quartets, performed with period instruments to capture the composer’s original sound. Their intense and precise interpretations, especially of the challenging Grosse Fuge, offer a robust and historically informed listening experience that highlights Beethoven’s complex compositional style.

The Chiaroscuro Quartet has released the latest installment in their ongoing series of Beethoven string quartets, presenting some of the composer’s most complex and demanding works with a distinctive historical approach. The ensemble, led by first violinist Alina Ibragimova, performs using gut strings and period bows to replicate the sounds that Beethoven and his contemporaries would have known, resulting in a sonically distinctive and often intense listening experience.

The program opens with Beethoven’s third Razumovsky quartet, known for its challenging and discordant opening chords, which the quartet delivers with sharp precision and energy. The players’ interpretation highlights vivid contrasts in color, rhythm, and phrasing, culminating in a particularly vigorous and intricate fugal finale.

Next is the F minor Quartet, Op. 95, a more condensed and formally unconventional work that reveals Beethoven’s idiosyncratic compositional style. Its brisk, lively final coda evokes a sudden shift in mood, offering a striking contrast between tension and lightness. The program culminates with the Grosse Fuge, a notoriously demanding and dense composition that requires sustained muscular effort from the performers. Rather than opting for a softer or more polished rendition, the quartet emphasizes the work’s inherent toughness, matching its intensity and complexity with a performance that is both powerful and uncompromising.

Separately, pianist and writer Susan Tomes has released an album showcasing compositions by women pianists, many of whom also composed miniature works. Drawing on themes from her 2024 book about women pianists, the recording spotlights twelve composers, some of whom remain relatively unfamiliar. The selected pieces are noted for their dexterity and charm, qualities that align well with Tomes’s interpretive sensitivity.

Noteworthy tracks include Fanny Mendelssohn’s “Abschied von Rom,” a tender farewell piece embodying the reluctance to leave the city, and Raie da Costa’s “Razor Blades,” a 1920s syncopated novelty with an upbeat, rhythmic character. The album is being described as a refreshing complement to Tomes’s literary and musical exploration of women’s contributions to the piano repertoire.

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