Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | String Quartet no. 9 in C major, "Razumovsky", Op.59 no.3

The premiere of Saad Haddad's Second String Quartet survives the downpour, the centrepiece of the Callistos’ recital in Caramoor’s Venetian Theater.

Overall, the performance kept a wonderful equilibrium between color and structure, humor and tragic sentiment, self-confidence and doubt.

Three young string quartets competing for first prize at the the13th Banff International String Quartet Competition played so well that they took the jurors into double overtime.

Cuerteto Casals delivers audience the gems of Beethoven String Quartets at their full potential at Suntory Hall Blue Rose Hall. 

The Takács Quartet approaches every work with fresh eyes and enthusiasm even if it is their hundredth performance

Janine Jansen's International Chamber Music Festival offered a special treat this year: scratchcard concert, where a scratchcard determined which concerts one got to see.

Auckland has not seen chamber music of this sheer magnetic excitement since, funnily enough, the Takács Quartet were here a couple of years ago. There must be something in the water in Hungary for that country to concurrently have two such magnificent string quartets.

Music fans love to get the whole picture. We consume box-sets, bootlegs, alternate takes, and artist interviews – all in the name of completeness. Some people say a good CD library should have at least three Eroicas and five Fifths to be complete, while music magazines might recommend more. Of course, live music venues have their own shot at completeness when they schedule a “cycle”.

Continuing their Beethoven cycle, the Belcea Quartet gave us another selection spanning Beethoven’s string quartet writing, allowing us to see how Beethoven transformed the medium from its elegant beginnings through to the complexity and expressiveness of his final works.

Hearing a work when the composer is in the audience always adds something to the occasion and the performance, and we’re fortunate in Durham that this seems to happen quite frequently. This evening’s concert by the Allegri String Quartet, held in the music department as part of the University’s Musicon series included the première of Anthony Payne’s String Quartet No.