Streichquartett • String Quartet Op.130 (Originalversion Mit Großer Fuge • Original Version With Great Fugue Op. 133)

This 1973 recording by the LaSalle Quartet, released under the Deutsche Grammophon label, captures the quartet's landmark approach to the late Beethoven string quartets. The performance is historically significant for its commitment to the original manuscript intentions, specifically the restoration of the Grosse Fuge as the intended finale to Op. 130, an arrangement Beethoven had originally been pressured to replace due to its technical difficulty and uncompromising complexity.

The LaSalle Quartet, renowned for their intellectual rigor and focus on the Second Viennese School, brought an analytical, clear-sighted precision to this Beethoven cycle. By presenting the Op. 130 quartet with the Grosse Fuge restored to its place as the final movement, the recording reflects a musicological shift in the mid-20th century that sought to move away from romanticized interpretations toward a more faithful, structural examination of the composer's final, radical creative period.