Narratio Quartet

Event information

Programme
Beethoven: Op. 18 No. 2
Beethoven: Op. 95
Beethoven: Op 59. No. 3

The name “Narratio” refers to the art of rhetoric and illustrates the quartet’s focus on storytelling and
interaction between the musicians and also between the quartet and the audience.'
The narrative of the Narratio Quartet began in 2009 when it was invited to perform Beethoven's last five
string quartets on five consecutive nights at the Early Music Festival Utrecht. It is precisely these late
Beethoven quartets which are rarely played on period instruments, using gut strings and 19th-century bows.
Since then the quartet has worked backwards, as it were; it has now played the complete cycle of Beethoven
quartets several times in the Netherlands and recently also in Switzerland. In 2024 concerts and
masterclasses brought them to the United Kingdom and Korea. Their repertoire has expanded to the later
19th century with the three Brahms quartets in combination with Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn.
Their recording of the complete Beethoven String Quartets on period instruments is available at:
https://www.challengerecords.com/search/narratio (CD)
https://spiritofturtle.com/collections/downloads (High Resolution downloads)

The press:
Nomination Preis der Deutsche Schallplatten Kritik (5-1-2025)
Sonograma Spain: 'a historical document of the first magnitude’
Fanfare USA: ‘the Narratio Quartet’s point of view on Beethoven’s timeless masterpieces is not just a
thoroughly researched one, but a compellingly convincing one, too’
Early Music UK: 'The quartet’s name refers to the art of rhetoric, the projection of which is tellingly
apparent in these marvellously communicative performances’