Beethoven: Quartets, Vol 3 CD review – daring, flair and candour

In 2015 the Elias String Quartet (sisters Sara and Marie Bitlloch plus violinist Donald Grant and violist Martin Saving) ended several years of intense Beethoven immersion by recording the complete quartet cycle live at the Wigmore Hall in London. This third instalment groups Opus 18 No 3, Op 95 and Op 130. The Elias always strike me with their diligence, candour and unguarded, searching commitment, but this performance adds new daring and flair. Opus 130’s first movement is spiced with suggestive slides; the second movement skits and scurries; the fourth is playfully elastic. Even the sacred fifth-movement Cavatina is milked for slow melodrama and big swoops, possibly too much in music of such profoundly simple beauty, but in general I enjoyed the personality and elan tremendously. Given the technical composure and focus of the playing it’s doubly impressive that this was recorded live. Applause is left in, and it surprised me on every listen.