Quatuor Ébène

On the eve of the Beethoven Year 2027, Flagey presents the first half of an integral cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets, spread across two seasons. There could be no better guide through this monumental body of work than Quatuor Ébène: the French quartet has recorded Beethoven’s complete string quartets and has already brought the cycle to stages around the world on several occasions. Across these three concerts, the four musicians offer a cross-section of Beethoven’s musical universe: from the early quartets rooted in the Classical tradition to the enigmatic yet visionary works of his late period. Although the concert series does not follow a chronological path, it symbolically begins with String Quartet No. 1 in F major, in which the influence of Haydn and Mozart can still be clearly heard. The programme also features two quartets from Beethoven’s middle period: the String Quartet No. 9 in C major and String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, known as the “Harp Quartet” because of its many pizzicato passages. Together, they reveal how Beethoven gradually broke free from his predecessors and continued to push the boundaries of the string quartet ever further.