John Pitman Review: Miro Quartet complete their Beethoven cycle

The Miró Quartet, who visited Portland in February hosted by Chamber Music NW, are celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth with the release of the complete string quartets. They began around 2005 with the Opus 18 (Beethoven’s first published set), recording them at the same age the composer was when he wrote them, in other words their late twenties. While they realized it might not be practical to wait until they were in their 50s and 60s to finish the Opus 135, violinist Daniel Ching and violist John Largess do share the story of how they went about recording the complete set, as well as shedding light on America’s early encounters with the string quartet repertoire through several trailblazing groups of the early 20th century.