United Kingdom Beethoven: Elias String Quartet (Sara Bitloch, Donald Grant [violins], Simone van der Geissen [viola], Marie Bitloch [cello]). Wigmore Hall, London, 10 & 15.3.2026. (CSa)
10.3.2026
Beethoven – String Quartet No.12 in E-flat, Op.127; String Quartet No.7 in F, Op.59 No.1 ‘Razumovsky’
15.3.2026
Beethoven – String Quartet No.4 in C minor, Op.18 No.4; String Quartet No.10 in E-flat, Op.74 ‘Harp’; String Quartet No.13 in B-flat, Op.130 with Grosse Fuge Op.133.
The Elias String Quartet carries a name with an intriguing lineage. In 2003, five years or so after ensemble was first formed at the Royal College of Northern Music by violist Donald Grant, the group chose to call itself ‘Elias’ from the German title of Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn, a composer they greatly admired and whose chamber works formed an important part of their early repertoire. Is it fanciful to speculate that there may also have been a spiritual component in the decision? After all, the great Hebrew prophet worked miracles, and God spoke to him – not in wind, earthquake or fire – but ‘in a small, quiet voice’ long associated with hope.
The quality of the quartet’s playing has been described by one seasoned critic as ‘flow[ing] between the human and celestial worlds’. Famed for their warmth of tone, precision and emotional intensity, the group speak of themselves as ‘…four musicians…who play from a single heart.’ Some 10 years after their initial Beethoven cycle at Wigmore Hall, all of which were recorded live, the Elias players returned in March in a three-part Beethoven series in which they revisited some of these works with miraculously fresh insights and performances which some might have experienced as profound expression of hope. `
Their opening programme featured two works: the first of the late quartets: No.12 in E-flat major, Op.127, and an earlier work from his middle-period, the String Quartet in F major, Op.59 No.1 ‘Razumovsky’.
Op.127 was dismissed at its premiere just over 200 years ago with utter incomprehension. One wished that those Viennese reviewers who described the composition as ‘confused’ and ‘lacking in clear structure’ had been obliged to hear the latest of this ensemble’s infinitely varied and exquisitely nuanced readings. The Maestoso, so cleanly articulated, opened with architectural grandeur before breaking into a tenderly flowing Allegro, its inner voices carefully shaped by Sara Bitlloch on first violin and Simone van der Giessen’s viola. The diminishing coda was played with ethereal softness, while the Adagio – a masterclass in technical control, arose from the intervening silence, intense and serene. After a fleet, teasing Scherzando, came a smoothly rendered finale, its inner tensions bubbling insistently beneath the calm surface.
The contemplative introverted world of late Beethoven was dramatically contrasted with an energetic and clear-eyed account of his declarative Op.59. From the outset, the cello (played by Sara Bittloch’s sister Marie) emerged authoritatively, and was answered by the rest of the ensemble with wit and lightness of touch. Skilful intricate instrumental interplay marked the Allegretto. The slow movement was understated but its nobility was profoundly moving. The Russian theme in the finale – exuberant and wonderfully expressive – masked the underlying discipline and control which anchored this extraordinary performance.
The last of the three programmes spanned Beethoven’s entire quartet-writing life and proved not merely to be a fascinating journey, but an unbroken insight into the composer’s creative arc. Starting with No.4 in C minor, Op.18, written between 1798-1800 when Beethoven was approaching his twenty-eighth birthday, the Elias players brought elegance and tight structure to remind us that the early works of Beethoven are firmly rooted in the classical tradition of his teacher Joseph Haydn. Fastidiously executed but stunningly spontaneous, the opening allegro brimmed with drama. Its brooding intensity and contrasting moods gave way to a playful scherzo and a compellingly tense and uneasy scherzoso. The finale, a stormy Allegro, was played with the necessary sense of dark urgency
String Quartet No.10 in E-flat, Op.74 ‘Harp’, written in 1809, acquired its nickname from the shimmering, resonant way in which pizzicato passages mimic the sound of a harp. This quartet represents Beethoven’s ‘middle’ period. The first movement unfolded almost ceremoniously, each voice wonderfully transparent and distinctly etched. When the Allegro arrived, the emphasis was on the architecture of Beethoven’s writing rather than its sheer exuberance, with those signature pizzicato arpeggios crisp and precise. The Adagio was luminous in texture and deeply considered, the silence between phrases carrying as much weight as sound. A burst of rustic humour and razor-sharp coordination characterised the Presto and some further pin-point pizzicato and perfect balance in the final Allegretto brought the first half to a natural and very satisfying conclusion
The second part of the recital featured the greatest and most radical of Beethoven’s string works – String Quartet No.13 in B-flat, Op.130 – a six-movement work which was happily united with the transcendent Grosse Fuge. The first two movements opened with deceptive lightness, with the ensemble observing a careful balance between fragility and control, taking care to shape Beethoven’s mercurial shifts without smoothing their edges. The Cavatina – always the emotional axis of the quartet – was played out with aching tenderness, while the last movement did not conclude the journey so much as detonate it. The Elias’s powerful performance resisted any temptation to tame the colliding rhythms and splintered harmonies, preferring instead to confront us with a work of defiant truth, decades ahead of its time. Four individuals presented Beethoven’s most daring ideas with vision and unsurpassed skill and played from a single heart.
Chris Sallon