Carnegie Hall

Quatuor Ébène continues its Beethoven quartet cycle with two early pieces and a quintessentially late-Beethoven work. The composer’s early Op. 18 quartets were written in the shadows of Haydn and Mozart, but he summons a uniquely restless energy in No. 5 that offers relief only in its whirling finale. In the E-flat–Major Quartet, we discover a daring exploration of sound and new harmonic grounds. Experience “a sense of tradition revived and renewed” (Gramophone) by Quatuor Ébène’s fearless interpretations, fluid performances, and “striking palette of expressive colors [that makes] mainstream readings feel monochrome by comparison” (The Strad).