Beethoven Quartets, Vol. 1: Late String Quartets Calidore Quartet

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127:
• 1 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127: I. Maestoso 07:06
• 2 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127: Ii Adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantabile 15:22
• 3 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127: Iii. Scherzando vivace 08:02
• 4 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127: Iv. Finale. Allegro 07:10
• String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131:
• 5 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131: I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo 06:48
• 6 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131: Ii. Allegro molto vivace 02:54
• 7 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131: Iii. Allegro moderato 00:43
• 8 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131: Iv. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile 13:26
• 9 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131: V. Presto 05:01
• 10 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131: Vi. Adagio quasi un poco andante 01:59
• 11 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131: Vii. Allegro 06:38
• String Quartet No. 13 in B-Flat major, Op. 130:
• 12 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-Flat major, Op. 130: I. Adagio ma non troppo - Allegro 13:39
• 13 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-Flat major, Op. 130: Ii. Presto 01:59
• 14 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-Flat major, Op. 130: Iii. Andante con moto ma non troppo. Poco scherzando 06:55
• 15 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-Flat major, Op. 130: Iv. Alla danza tedesca (Allegro assai) 03:24
• 16 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-Flat major, Op. 130: V. Cavatina (Adagio molto espressivo) 07:00
• Grosse Fuge in B-Flat Major, Op. 133:
• 17 Beethoven: Grosse Fuge in B-Flat Major, Op. 133 15:32
• String Quartet No. 13 in B-Flat major, Op. 130:
• 18 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-Flat major, Op. 130: Vi. Finale. Allegro 10:13
• String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132:
• 19 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132: I. Assai sostenuto - Allegro 09:57
• 20 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132: Ii. Allegro ma non tanto 09:01
• 21 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132: Iii. Molto adagio 17:32
• 22 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132: Iv. Alla marcia, assai vivace 02:17
• 23 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132: V. Allegro appassionato 06:41
• String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135:
• 24 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135: I. Allegretto 06:38
• 25 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135: Ii. Vivace 03:15
• 26 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135: Iii. Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo 07:48
• 27 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135: Iv. Grave ma non troppo tratto - Allegro 06:43
• Total Runtime 03:23:43

Info for Beethoven Quartets, Vol. 1: Late String Quartets

BEETHOVEN: The Late Quartets, is the Calidore String Quartet’s third album and most ambitious project to date on the label following their acclaimed albums BABEL (2020) and Resilience (2018). The three-album set marks the first instalment of the Calidore’s full Beethoven cycle to be released on Signum over the next three years. It has been twelve years since friends Jeffrey Myers (violin), Ryan Meehan (violin), Jeremy Berry (viola), and Estelle Choi (cello) formed the Calidore String Quartet while students at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. “Performing the Beethoven cycle is the musical equivalent of scaling Mount Everest,” says violinist Ryan Meehan. “It is a gruelling nine hours of music comprised of some of the most technically intricate and emotionally demanding music ever conceived, to which we have dedicated much of our studying and performing since the quartet’s inception.”

The Calidore String Quartet has been continually drawn to Beethoven’s music for the enduring relevance of his humanistic perspective. Meehan says, “He was an artist who aimed to compose not for one portion of society, but rather to unite us through our fundamental elements. His sixteen string quartets sonically weave a tapestry of human emotion; from vulnerability and hope as in the ‘Heiliger Dankgesang’ of op. 132, to terror and anger subsiding to joy like in op. 135’s ‘Der schwer gefasste Entschluss’. Our public performances affirmed to us that Beethoven’s Quartets appeal to the emotional experiences we share in common as human beings, which are far more substantial than what may divide us. These great works are also the result of Beethoven’s struggles to overcome the challenges of his own life.”

“This recording serves as a snapshot of our twelve years of working, growing, listening and collaborating with one another. Though this music speaks in a language that is hundreds of years old, its message remains immediate, relevant and comforting to listeners of today and of generations to come even, and especially in the most challenging of times.”

During the 2022-23 season, the Calidore String Quartet perform Beethoven Quartets in concert throughout North America and around the world with engagements in Vancouver, Costa Mesa and Denmark, and at Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw and Kennedy Center. This summer, the ensemble presents the complete Beethoven Quartet cycle at Music@Menlo with additional complete performances in 2023-24 to be announced later this year.

Calidore String Quartet

The Calidore String Quartet
has been recognized for achieving an extraordinary cohesion of individual artistry and collective expression—what The Washington Post described as “four more individual musicians are unimaginable, yet these speak, breathe, think and feel as one.” Lauded by The Los Angeles Times for performances that are “astonishing…the kind of sublimity other quartets spend a lifetime searching for,” the Quartet is distinguished by its expressive depth, commanding precision and interpretive clarity. With repertoire spanning the complete quartet cycles of Beethoven and Mendelssohn to works by visionary contemporary voices such as György Kurtág, Jörg Widmann, and Caroline Shaw, the Calidore brings what The New York Times called “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct” to each performance. Their artistry reflects a profound engagement with both the classical canon and the evolving language of 21st-century chamber music.

The Calidore has performed at many of the world’s greatest concert halls and festivals, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Konzerthaus, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Brussels’ BOZAR, and festivals such as the BBC Proms, Verbier, Ravinia, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, and annually at The Bellingham Festival of Music. Collaborators have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Joshua Bell, Anthony McGill, Marc-André Hamelin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, David Finckel and Wu Han, the Emerson String Quartet and the Ebene Quartet among others.

Dedicated advocates for today’s music, the Calidore has premiered works by Caroline Shaw, John Williams, Anna Clyne, Gabriela Montero, Sebastian Currier, Han Lash, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Huw Watkins. In the 2025–26 season, they give the world premiere of a new quartet “Arietta” by Turnage at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts and reunite with Gabriela Montero at the Barbican Centre for a performance of her piano quintet. Additional highlights include a European tour with performances in Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland, returns to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, South Mountain Concerts in Pittsfield, MA, Sanibel Music Festival, the Bellingham Festival of Music as well as a tour of the West Coast. The Quartet will enjoy numerous collaborations this season, including with guitarist Sharon Isbin, pianists Gabriela Montero and Orion Weiss, violists Lawrence Dutton and Matt Lipman, and clarinetist Ricardo Morales.

In 2026, the Calidore releases an all-American album on Signum Records featuring music by Barber, Marsalis, Korngold, and John Williams. In 2025, they unveil a landmark box set of the complete Beethoven string quartets, recorded for Signum following their live cycle at Lincoln Center during the 2024–25 season. The first volume—featuring the late quartets—was released in 2023 to widespread acclaim and earned the Quartet the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Chamber Award. The second volume, released in 2024, was named Editor’s Choice by Gramophone Magazine. Earlier recordings for Signum include Babel, featuring works by Schumann, Shaw, and Shostakovich, and Resilience, with music by Prokofiev, Janáček, Golijov, and Mendelssohn.

Formed in 2010 at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the Calidore rose to prominence with top prizes at the ARD Munich, Hamburg, Fischoff, Coleman, Chesapeake, and Yellow Springs competitions. In 2016, they won the Grand Prize of the inaugural M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition and became recipients of the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. Additional honors include the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, and selection as BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists.

Currently the Distinguished String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Delaware, the Calidore has also held residencies at the University of Toronto, University of Michigan, and Stony Brook University. The Quartet’s mentors have included the Emerson String Quartet, Quatuor Ébène, Andre Roy, Arnold Steinhardt, David Finckel, Günter Pichler, Guillaume Sutre, Paul Coletti, and Ronald Leonard.

Booklet for Beethoven Quartets, Vol. 1: Late String Quartets