I tried listening to Beethoven's String Quartets and it didn't click

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Hey! I was going through some old stuff and I found the Takács cycle of Beethoven's quartets, and I thought of giving it a listen. But, I felt it didn't click, I kept zoning out just by the 2nd quartet, just didn't feel that into it, despite how much praised they are. I don't wanna say that they are terrible, but they feel dull, like there are catchy melodies here and there, but I keep on zoning out, or just not caring enough to get back. And I think the way I am listening to it is to fault, I had gone through big albums like Mozart's complete piano sonatas, Karajan's Beethoven's symphony cycle, Haydn's Sturm und drag symphonies, etc, and I liked all of them, atleast enough to be consistently going back to them. But, is it a bad idea for this piece? Because when I listen, the Op. 18 no 1 sounds same as no 2, no 3 etc, it feels as if just any other quartet (I have listen to a few quartets, majorly Schubert's, so I am not new to the form. What am I doing wrong? I will answer any questions you have if you want to know more. Has anyone ever felt so with any other piece or body of work? Where they feel the piece is completely opaque or boring.

Thanks in advance.

Posted Aug 29, 2026, 1:18 PM UTC

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