ARIEL QUARTET to Complete Beethoven Cycle on Orchid Classics
Violinists Alexandra Kazovsky and Gershon Gerchikov join violist Jan Grüning and cellist Amit Even-Tov on the recordings.
The ARIEL QUARTET is set to release the third volume of its complete Beethoven string quartet cycle on the Orchid Classics label, continuing a multi-year recording project that began with a first volume met with critical acclaim from publications including The New York Times and Gramophone. The quartet — violinists Alexandra Kazovsky and Gershon Gerchikov, violist Jan Grüning, and cellist Amit Even-Tov — released the cycle's opening volume in 2025, followed by a second installment later that year, with the third volume and an eventual box set to follow as the project builds toward 2027, the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's death.
The Ariel Quartet (Alexandra Kazovsky, violin; Gershon Gerchikov, violin; Jan Grüning, viola; and Amit Even-Tov, cello) – distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned performances – will release the complete Beethoven String Quartets over two years on the Orchid Classics label, culminating in 2027, the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's death. The Quartet released the first volume of the series on April 4, 2025, volume two on November 7, 2025, with volume three arriving on October 2, 2026 and a special box set release in March 2027.
The Ariel Quartet's first volume of this Beethoven Cycle was met with considerable critical acclaim, with positive reviews in The New York Times, Gramophone, The Whole Note, Classical Voice of North America, and more. Richard Wigmore wrote in Gramophone magazine that the album included, 'supremely skillful, deeply considered performances . . . no one could deny the physical and intellectual energy of the Ariel's playing, or their sheer technical brilliance.' Of the second volume, Jean-Yves Duperron of The Classical Music Sentinel writes, 'There's just something about the Ariel Quartet that draws life out of every note on the page.'
The third volume of the cycle, recorded across three CDs, includes Beethoven's Late Quartets – String Quartet in E-flat major, Op.127; String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op.131; String Quartet in A minor, Op.132; String Quartet in F major, Op.135; and String Quartet in B-flat major, Op.130, including the 'Große Fuge' Op.133. The first single from the album, Allegro from String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op.131, will be released on September 18, 2026.
Formed when the members were just teenagers studying at the Jerusalem Academy Middle School of Music and Dance in Israel, the Ariel Quartet has a long history with the quartets of Beethoven. His String Quartet in C minor, Op.18 No.4 was the very first piece that the group tackled together as thirteen year olds, and the members credit the work for hooking them on the genre, for life.
In 2013 to mark its 15th anniversary, the Ariel Quartet performed its first complete Beethoven cycle – a landmark for the group, which has been performing Beethoven's music since its inception. Since then, the Ariel has performed the complete cycle on six occasions throughout the United States and Europe. They view the complete quartets as part of their personal life-long journey reflected in Beethoven's music – works that are interwoven with the evolution of the string quartet genre as well as the group's own genesis story.
Of their history with Beethoven's late quartets, the Ariel Quartet writes in this volume's liner notes:
'Our journey with [Beethoven's] late quartets began with Op.132 in 2004, and despite encountering sentiments that young musicians shouldn't readily dive into these worlds this work quickly became one of our favorites to perform. Truthfully, this music does not ripen in us without performing it incessantly, and the notion that our deep love and respect for art should be expressed by staying away from it really makes more sense for a museum. How a given section, theme or movement relates, a tempo feels and a character comes to life will only truly be put to the test in a concert, where the moment is everything. We feel especially with this [third] Volume, that recording it is a touch like capturing a rare creature in Himalaya-like territory and displaying it in the zoo – ethically as debatable as choosing to declare that one specific version of any given phrase or character should persist. The sole reason to jump over one's own artistic shadow and proceed nevertheless is to make a record in the spirit of how we feel these masterworks should come to life.'
More About the Ariel Quartet
The Ariel Quartet was named a recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition of artistic achievement and career support. Recent highlights include the Quartet's sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, a series of performances at Lincoln Center together with pianist Inon Barnatan and the Mark Morris Dance Group, as well as the release of a Brahms and Bartók album for Avie Records. In 2020, the Ariel gave the U.S. premiere of the Quintet for Piano and Strings by Daniil Trifonov, with the composer as pianist for the Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati. The Quartet serves as the Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where they direct the chamber music program and present a concert series in addition to maintaining a busy touring schedule in the United States and abroad.
The Ariel Quartet regularly collaborates with today's eminent and rising young musicians and ensembles, including pianist Orion Weiss, cellist Paul Katz, and the American, Pacifica, and Jerusalem String Quartets. The Quartet has toured with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and performed frequently with pianists Jeremy Denk and Menahem Pressler. In addition, the Ariel served as Quartet-in-Residence for the Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program, as well as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Festival.
Formerly the resident ensemble of the Professional String Quartet Training Program at the New England Conservatory, from which the players obtained their undergraduate and graduate degrees, the Ariel was mentored extensively by acclaimed string quartet giants Walter Levin and Paul Katz. It has won numerous international prizes in addition to the Cleveland Quartet Award: First Prize at the prestigious Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition in Graz/Austria, Grand Prize at the 2006 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Székely Prize for the performance of Bartók's String Quartet No. 4, and Third Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. About its performances at the Banff competition, the American Record Guide described the group as 'a consummate ensemble gifted with utter musicality and remarkable interpretive power' and noted, in particular, their playing of Beethoven's monumental Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, as 'the pinnacle of the competition.'
The Ariel Quartet has received significant support from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, Dov and Rachel Gottesman, and the Legacy Heritage Fund. Most recently, they were awarded a grant from the A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation.
Tracklist
Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets Vol. 3 — Ariel Quartet — Orchid Classics | Release Date: October 2, 2026
Disc 1: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
String Quartet in E-flat major, Op.127
1 Maestoso – Allegro [6:55]
2 Adagio ma non troppo e molto cantabile [15:54]
3 Scherzo, Vivace [9:13]
4 Allegro [7:34]
String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op.131
5 Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo [6:25]
6 Allegro molto vivace [3:07]
7 Allegro moderato [0:51]
8 Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile [13:59]
9 Presto [5:08]
10 Adagio quasi un poco andante [1:57]
11 Allegro [7:03]
Total time: [78:06]
Disc 2
String Quartet in A minor, Op.132
1 Assai sostenuto – Allegro [9:49]
2 Allegro ma non tanto [9:55]
3 Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lidischen Tonart. Molto adagio – Neue Kraft fühlend. Andante [17:33]
4 Alla marcia, assai vivace [2:23]
5 Allegro appassionato [6:46]
String Quartet in F major, Op.135
6 Allegretto [6:57]
7 Vivace [3:27]
8 Assai lento, cantate e tranquillo [7:34]
9 Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß: Grave, ma non troppo tratto – Allegro [7:00]
Total time [71:24]
Disc 3
String Quartet in B-flat major, Op.130
1 Adagio ma non troppo – Allegro [13:57]
2 Presto [2:01]
3 Poco scherzoso. Andante con moto ma non troppo [7.37]
4 Alla Danza tedesca. Allegro assai [3:40]
5 Cavatina. Adagio molto espressivo [7:06]
6 Overtura. Allegro – Meno mosso e moderato – Allegro. Fuga* [16:13]
Total time [50:35]
Ariel Quartet: Alexandra Kazovsky, violin; Gershon Gerchikov, violin; Jan Grüning, viola; Amit Even-Tov, cello
* This movement was later published separately as Op.133 under the title Grande Fugue, tantôt libre, tantôt recherchée.
Producer: Jesse Lewis
Recording Engineer: Shauna Barravecchio, Jesse Lewis
Editing Engineer: Caroline Shaffer Robin, Shauna Barravecchio, Alexandre Robin, Thiago Wolf
Mix Engineer: Jesse Lewis
Denoise Engineer: Mark Alletag
Mastering Engineer: Christopher Moretti
Immersive Producer: Jesse Lewis
Immersive Mixing and Mastering Engineer: Christopher Moretti
© 2025 Orchid Music Limited
The complete cycle, spanning three volumes and a commemorative box set, positions the ARIEL QUARTET's Beethoven project as a multi-year undertaking timed to the composer's bicentennial.
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