Borromeo String Quartet Plays Beethoven Op. 18, No. 1 at NEC's Jordan Hall March 8, 2020

Beethoven String Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1
Allegro con brio (00:00)
Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato (06:47)
Scherzo: Allegro molto (16:04)
Allegro (19:43)

This concert on March 8, 2020, was the start of the Borromeo String Quartet's presentation of the Complete Beethoven String Quartets at the New England Conservatory of Music, where they are faculty Quartet-in- Residence. The concert was wonderfully attended, in part because of an article by Jeremy Eichler in the Boston Globe that morning. This article discussed in depth Nicholas Kitchen's and the Quartet's work with the extensive expressive markings that are visible in Beethoven's manuscripts that are not visible in print. These marks are present in consistent form and in abundance in all Beethoven's major works for nearly the last 30 years of his life. In the case of Op. 18, No. 1 the marks happen to be present in abundance in the presentation copy that Beethoven had made for his close friend Karl Amenda. The piece Beethoven gave to Amenda was an earlier version than the one you hear in this video, though the fundamental ideas are the same. The manuscript expressive marks consist of 20 dynamics instead of the 9 we see in print; 4 types of staccato instead of the 1 or 2 we see in print and two types of expressive swell pairs instead of the one type we see in print. All of these items are interesting because they seem to relate directly to the expressive features of each piece, and as such have proved very inspiring to Nicholas Kitchen and the members of the Borromeo Quartet.

Besides teaching at NEC, Nicholas Kitchen is Artistic Director of the Heifetz International Music Institute, and parallel to the Borromeo's presentation of the Beethoven Cycle at New England Conservatory of Music, the quartet is presenting the Cycle in the "Beethoven Experience" for the Heifetz Institute in collaboration with the American Shakespeare Center and Mary Baldwin University. The Borromeo presented their first Beethoven cycle concert on February 24, 2020, performing in the Blackfrier's Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia and explaining in a pre-concert discussion Beethoven's deep connection to Shakespeare. It happens that in the second movement of Op. 18, No. 1, Beethoven makes a direct reference to the tomb scene of Romeo and Juliet in his sketches, and however he worked with that idea, this movement is one of his most emotionally powerful slow movements.

As it turned out, this concert of the Borromeo Quartet in Jordan Hall on March 8 was the last public concert before Jordan Hall was closed due to the Corona Virus. We hope audiences and musicians will soon have the chance to return safely to this beautiful hall.

The audio recording for New England Conservatory of Music was made by Jeremy Sarna, and the video was made by Nicholas Kitchen