Tonal Understanding

The Belcea Quartet plays Schubert and Beethoven,
enjoyed by BILL NEWMAN

On 10 June 2008 the celebrated Belcea Quartet delighted listeners in performances of two masterworks by Schubert and Beethoven.

To say that this quartet is enjoying a particular peak in its excellence of performing the classics would most likely be taken as some tame appraisal of my liking for two favourite composers and a particular fondness for the Rosamunde Quartet by the former and what is generally regarded as the late Beethoven consensus as Opus 131 in C sharp minor representing his quartet masterpiece. But at least that is just as honest as The Independent on Sunday's comment that the Belceas 'have gone from being the leading string quartet of their generation to being one of the best in the world'.

Join these two statements together and you might persuade those who did not attend this marvelous chamber event at London's Wigmore Hall that these performances not only re-created the finest details from other great ones over the years, but reflected also the individual and combined spirit of four performers who matched their own respective tonal understanding of poetry and drama with the creative genius of the two giants who first brought them into being.