Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | String Quartet in C minor, Op.51 no.1

  The concert, which also featured quartets by Mozart and Brahms, was characterized by elegance and refinement, but also great musical drama.

The Mozartkirche, a grand Catholic church in Biberbach, provided a somewhat reverential setting for the sixth concert in the mozart@augsburg series. It was also a distinct contrast to the elaborate Small Golden Hall in which the previous evening’s concert, “Chamber Music Pearls”, was held.

The Borodin String Quartet has been playing serious, heavyweight programmes since 1945, making it the quartet world’s most senior ensemble, and giving it a global reputation for high technical standards and musicianship.

The string quartet is a peculiar beast in the classical music world. It takes a dash of talent, a sprinkling of luck, and a lot of social skills to make it in a professional, full-time string quartet. Many quartets are plagued with internal conflicts and member changes; however, the Lafayette Quartet seems to have defied the statistics in this category, almost miraculously.

Most string quartets seldom step outside the established canon of the classical Viennese repertoire (Haydn to Schubert), some Schumann, Brahms and Dvorak, some 20th century French repertoire, Bartok and Shostakovich. Not so the Quatuor Mosaïques.