Beethoven: Complete String Quartets album review – up there with the best

The Dover Quartet released their Beethoven cycle in three instalments between 2019 and 2022, and it’s now been brought together in a single set. The individual instalments have been very positively reviewed, especially in the US, where the group is based (they came together at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia in 2008) and it’s easy to understand why their performances have been well received. Everything about the playing is immaculate – tempi are invariably uncontroversial, phrasing is elegant, textures always crystal clear – and many will feel very comfortable with the neutral approach that they adopt, especially in their stylish performances of the Op 18 quartets and the three Rasumovskys Op 59.

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Alongside the finest recorded cycles – those of the Takács and Alban Berg quartets in the digital era, and of the majestic Quartetto Italiano from an earlier generation – the Dover’s performances may seem to lack a bit of character and intensity, while the rather insistent vibrato of the leader won’t be to all tastes; it can become rather intrusive, especially in the slow movements of the late quartets, such as the Cavatina of the B flat, Op 130 and the adagio of the A minor, Op 132. But it’s a fine achievement, up there with the best Beethoven of recent times.