Complete String Quartets
By Ludwig van Beethoven

I hope by now that most musicians know the Dover Editions are for sitting down and studying, not for playing. I can wish they had wider central margins so they could be taken apart and put into a notebook where page turning is easier, but that isn't about to...

happen at this great low price -- so I'll take the good, and try to preserve the wimpy spine by careful page turning. Some of the print is not as dark as I'd like -- very uneven. When I look at the grayed out eighth notes of certain pages, I can hear the whack of an ABDick printer going way too fast, sputtering to keep up with demand. Still, a sit down with this book and a favorite recording is enlightening.

Having done grad study at the Yale School of Music (trombone, theory and paleography) I can't see how anyone could be a couch potato and listen to these quartets without see the mastery. Brass instruments don't have the flexibility of strings but trombones share the characteristic of being...

able to play the note at any pitch........just as string players do. No one who buy this volume will be disappointed and there are times you will want to just "read" a quartet without the music and "hear it" in your head. Abouve all, Beethoven has a great sense of humor..........look at "Es Muss Sein" and laugh......it is a romp and a half!