The E-flat major String Quartet, op. 127, is a key work not only in Beethoven’s Oeuvre but in the entire history of the genre. The first of the late quartets, it ''transfers the formal and symbolic aspects of his two major works for chorus and orchestra [the Missa solemnis and the Ninth Symphony] to the more intimate domain of chamber music'' (William Kinderman). For years, music lovers have been waiting for a new edition based on the scholarly text from the new Beethoven Gesamtausgabe. The wait