We could just as easily have called this episode, Growing Up Beethoven, or Build-A-Beethoven, or Beethoven: From Boy to Boss, but “actualization” is more accurate. As violist Simone Gramaglia of Quartetto di Cremona explains, like any artist we study in hindsight, Beethoven’s creative development has distinct, identifiable periods. Unlike other artists, as he evolved, Beethoven moved increasingly away from rules and conventions, and into something transcendent: a full expression of his own unique creative vision. What I’m trying to say is that Beethoven had a lot in common with Prince.  

 

All music in this episode from Quartetto di Cremona’s Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, including:

• String quartets Op. 16, 95, and 132

Audio production by Todd “La Dolce Todda” Hulslander with Vespa riding by Dacia Clay and editing by Mark DiClaudio.