The Early Quartets Win

I've probably focused too much on orchestral music when I look at what's been playing.

On the day after Thanksgiving, rather than get wrapped up in Black Friday crap and football, I decided to take a look at Beethoven's String Quartets. I'm lucky to have the Takacs Quartet performing regularly in Boulder, very lucky. They've recorded on CD and won awards for their renditions of the Beethoven quartets. I must admit, though, that even though I love their CD's, nothing is as good as a live performance.

Anyway, here is a table of the broadcasts of the Beethoven String Quartets by KVOD for 2007 through November 24th.

KVOD Broadcasts	Beethoven String Quartet	Time in minutes
11	#01 in F Major, Op 18/1	27
7	#02 in G Major, Op 18/2	23
8	#03 in C minor, Op 18/3	24
10	#04 in A Major, Op 18/4	22
10	#05 in A Major, Op 18/5	28
12	#06 in Bb Major, Op 18/6	24
11	#07 in F Major 'Razumovsky', Op 59/1	40
1	#08 in E minor 'Razumovsky', Op 59/2	40
9	#09 in C Major 'Razumovsky', Op 59/3	32
1	#10 in E flat Major 'Harp', Op 74	32
1	#11 in f minor 'Serioso', Op 95	21
0	#12 in E flat Major [1825], Op 127	35
2	#13 in Bb Major, Op 130 with 'Grosse Fugue'	57
0	#14 in C# minor, Op 131	39
2	#15 in a minor, Op 132	43
1	#16 in F Major, Op 135	25

Now there are only 16 of them, and there are roughly 525,600 minutes each year, so why can't they all be broadcast? What about #12 and #14? And only 2 times for the great Opus 132? Interestingly they did broadcast this on Thanksgiving night, appropriately with it's 3rd movement marked by Beethoven with "Heiliger Danksgesang eine Genesenen and die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart." ("Holy Song of Thanksgiving by a Convalescent to the Divinity, in the Lydian Mode", thanks Wikipedia)

So it's the early quartets, a smidge of the middle ones and short shrift to the late quartets, arguably Beethoven's finest. I just can help but wonder why a public radio station can't do better?