France’s Diapason has given a five-star review to Quatuor Diotima’s recording of Beethoven’s late string quartets, praising an interpretation that keeps cold abstraction at bay even in the composer’s most demanding late style.
Marking the ensemble’s thirtieth anniversary, the album is the quartet’s first foray into Beethoven after building a formidable reputation in 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, as well as Romantic composers from Schubert to Bruckner. Diapason highlights the group’s incisive, modern sound, led by violinist Yun-Peng Zhao, and notes that their “vertical,” moment-focused approach brings fresh clarity to works whose late style may inspire as much admiration as dread.
The review singles out the powerful introduction of Quartet No. 12, praising its sweeping effects and admirable syncopations, as well as the Grand Fugue, where the first violin becomes a goad of pain in the work’s most dramatic passages. Diapason also notes the pentatonic opening of Quartet No. 16, describing it as acquiring the air of a Chinese cabinet of curiosities.
Beethoven: The Late String Quartets is out now on PENTATONE.
