Michelangelo Quartet

The Herald called the Michelangelo Quartet “one of the great string quartets of the era” and lauded the members' playing that’s “out of this world.” They perform a Haydn quartet that delights with its opening movement imitation of birdsong and concludes with a display of quicksilver virtuosity. After a dirge-like opening, Bartók’s quartet quickens in pace until it too culminates in a breathless finale. Smetana’s masterpiece is far more introverted, a poignant work that reflects on his life’s work, hopes, and tragedy.

Heath Quartet

Two chamber music cornerstones frame Britten’s innovative first quartet. Britten’s manipulation of texture and color stand out in his quartet, as do passages hinting at the sound world of his opera Peter Grimes. Mozart’s quartet opens with unorthodox harmonies that inspired its nickname, but its magnificent architecture and melodic splendor make it a masterpiece. The third “Razumovsky” quartet, commissioned by the Russian ambassador to Austria, mesmerizes with its mysterious opening and uplifts its concluding heroic double fugue.

Quatuor Arod

Hear Haydn perfect the classical string quartet, Brahms pay tribute to Bach, and Bartók surprise and delight. If Haydn was the father of the string quartet, his “Sunrise”—nicknamed for the first violin’s rising theme over a sustained chord—is one of his finest offspring. Brahms's expansive quartet is noteworthy for its crafty use of canons (a favorite Bach device), dash of Hungarian folk accents, and warm melodies. Bartók also makes use of folk music in his quartet’s Scherzo—this time Bulgarian—in a daredevil work of engrossing bravura.

Dover Quartet

Few string quartets can boast “a sound so distinctive as to be easily identified within mere minutes” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), but the Dover Quartet has achieved that and more, prompting The New Yorker to call it “the young American string quartet of the moment.” The Dover Quartet returns to Carnegie Hall for a program that features the moving Romanticism of Tchaikovsky, Dvořák’s sunshine-drenched melodies in celebration of his return to his Czech homeland, and an edgy and energetic Bartók quartet.