Beethoven couldn’t help teasing his friend and amateur cellist baron Nicholaus Zmeskall von Domanovecz about his short-sightedness in the title of this virtuosic and playful duo. However more than a century later Jean Françaix employs an entirely different kind of wit along with the charm and brilliance that capture so well the unique atmosphere of 1930s Paris.

 

In another drastic skip we are transposed to United States in the 70s with Philip Glass’s haunting music. Originally written for the staging of Samuel Becket’s novel Company, this quartet captures the very essence of this enigmatic and captivating narrative about solitude.

 

To finish what is definitely our most diverse program this season we are transported back to Vienna of 1790. Financial hardship and health-related issues may have plagued Mozart’s final years, but from this music we would have never suspected any of that. This second-to-last string quartet that he wrote is radiating warmth, high spirits and cheer that so often define his music.