Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | String Quartet in C minor "Quartettsatz" D.703

An eclectic programme running from Purcell to Nina Simone kept with the Festival's tradition of presenting up-and-coming classical musicians.

The Australian Chamber orchestra gives its first subscription concert in Sydney since the beginning of the year. 

How does an admirer of Shostakovich's symphonic works react to a performance of two of his string quartets? Well, if it's the Borodin Quartet that is playing, the experience will most definitely be a changing experience. 

Viennese classics from the Brodsky Quartet in Leamington Spa. 

In the penultimate Proms Chamber Music lunchtime concert, the Armida Quartett and viola player Lise Berthaud packed a intense but well-balanced programme in an hour which was like having a perfect three-course lunch.

The Jerusalem Quartet and Sir András Schiff make a great case for Weinberg at Wigmore Hall. 

To lose a player on the eve of a tour is nothing short of a disaster for a string quartet. However, substitute cellist Christophe Morin fits in well with the rest of the Modigliani Quartet in a revised program in Sydney. 

In honour of Schubert’s 218th birthday, Wigmore Hall decided to invite celebrated associate artists the Takács Quartet to perform a selection of the composer’s works for string quartet. 

New York-based string quartet Brooklyn Rider epitomizes the new movement within classical music which advocates ‘unfettered’ performances and a contemporarly look, and has built a following on this image. 

“What makes Mahler’s music like opium,” I once got asked. If you enjoy listening to lush melodies and pompous brass calls in fine Wagnerian traditions, or get stimulated sonically by a large orchestra, you have got a foot in the door.

A full house at St George’s was spoilt with some seriously fantastic music in this concert. String quartets don’t come much better than the Takács Quartet. Versatile, passionate, and technically very accurate, there was a real quality of care that went into their performance.

Au Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, le Quatuor Belcea réaffirme sa maestria dans un Schubert exalté et nerveux, et dans un Chostakovitch lisse mais hypnotisant.

Cosmos Cuartet es una de las propuestas más estimulantes de los últimos años por su depurado sonido y la gran exigencia que demuestran reto tras reto. El programa que presentaron en la Schubertíada encaja como anillo al dedo con el ideario del festival, con un Schubert maduro y poético y un monumental Beethoven de gran transcendencia.

Mit Schubert, Britten und Schostakowitsch öffnet und schließt das Belcea Quartet auf unterschiedliche Weise Kreise.

Die Musiker des Mandelring Quartetts begeistern mit äußerst schlüssigem Programm und packender musikalischer Kommunikation.

Jan Talich porte courageusement le lourd héritage de gloire qu'a laissé son père. Ce soir malheureusement, il n'est resté que la lie du son magique des Talich d'antan. Dans ce déluge de couacs, d'iniquités et d'à-peu-près, la musique est passée à la trappe.

Un violoncelle qui domine la scène du haut d'une estrade, le reste du quatuor jouant debout, le diable au corps, des tablettes tactiles qui remplacent les partitions : le Cuarteto Casals ne fait rien comme les autres. Mais leurs interprétations de Schubert, Beethoven et Chostakovitch ouvrent, par leur humanité, sur des profondeurs plus secrètes des trois compositeurs.

Während draußen der Winter Einzug gehalten und München mit einer weißen Zuckerschicht bedeckt hatte, waren am Sonntagabend des 17. Januar eingefleischte Kammermusikfans aus München und Umgebung ins elegante Prinzregententheater gekommen, um einen kammermusikalischen Leckerbissen zu genießen.