50 BEETHOVEN • THE COMPLETE STRING QUARTETS With extreme delicacy, the four musicians lead us towards this silence which resembles a desire for what lies beyond sound. A return to the origins that haunted Beethoven: ‘It must certainly come from above, that which is to touch the heart; otherwise there are only notes – bodies without souls – is it not so?’, he remarked in 1824 to Stumpff, a harp maker visiting him from London. The Ysaÿe offer us a veritable journey through Beethoven’s life. After becoming a respected composer in Vienna, he was assailed by deafness, an ailment that was naturally fatal for musicians, and in his case was probably due to the regular consumption of poorquality Hungarian wine containing lead. Should he resign himself, give up, die? His music asks all these questions, and the musicians of the quartet ask them of us.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTAwOTQx