Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | String Quartet no. 53 in D major "The Lark”, Op.64 no.5, Hob III:63

Aren’t nicknames interesting! I’m sure there’ll have been hundreds of studies into the development, designation, and deployment of nicknames and the historical and sociological conclusions we can draw from the Daves, D-Diddies and Dangerous Dans alike. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if the nickname formed the basis of an entire field of academic enquiry.

This was a short BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert, but a very good one. Of course, nothing less would be expected from the Takács Quartet, who surely have a very good claim to be the world's foremost string quartet. Even if only for a sold-out hour, all the characteristics which make them great were amply on show here.

Sometimes music is a more effective transporter than the London Underground. This was certainly the case this Tuesday, when closures on the Piccadilly line resulted in me cycling at breakneck speed half-way across London to hear the Danish String Quartet playing in what I imagined to be a regular, run-of-the-mill, wear-what-you-like-as-long-as-it’s-corduroy concert at the Cadogan Hall.

With only Nikolai Demidenko's Gala Recital on Sunday 10th April remaining, the recital by the Vardanyan Quartet marked the end of Haddington Concert Society's 2010/11 “Music Close Up” season. The only single-gender ensemble I've seen in two seasons of concerts, the quartet opened with Haydn's String Quartet in D Major, Op. 64 No. 5 'The Lark'.

Unter dem Titel Das Bartók-Projekt spielte das Jerusalem Quartett an drei Abenden alle sechs Streichquartette von Béla Bartók im kleinen Saal der Laeiszhalle. Stefan Pillhofer berichtet vom letzten Konzertabend mit den Quartetten Nr. 5 und 6.