String Quintet, WoO 62 I. Adagio ma non troppo - Allegro assai. (Hideaki Shichida)
Regrettably, the original of Beethoven's last substantial (but incomplete) work, a string quintet in C, no longer exists. All that remains is a piano reduction of the introduction to the first movement and a variety of sketches for all four movements, scattered in various archives. Like the Tenth Symphony, these fragments are irresistible and several composers have tried their hand at making sense of these vibrant sketches. We are pleased to present here a realization by Japanese composer Hideaki Shichida. The score may be downloaded at the International Music Score Library Project.
Those who are familiar with the extant material may be surprised by one of the editorial choices: Mr. Shichida uses the introduction of the first movement here as the basis for the second movement instead. His use of pizzicato in the arrangement of this movement is truly delightful.
WoO: 62