Belcea Quartet, Wigmore Hall, R3, 15 Feb, '17

[Stanley Stewart]

A compelling recital last night from the Belcea Quartet, concluding with DSCH's
String Quartet 15, Op 144. A telling occasion which also brought to mind a complete quartets cycle with platform talks by the Fitzwilliam String Qt in the late 70s. In particular, my scribbled programme notes, re St Qt 15 - ' sorrow drained to the bitterest dregs' reminded me how this went to the heart of the matter. Shrewdly, the Belcea's sent us on our way with a suitable antidote encore, Beethoven's Cavatina, Str Qt Op130! also recorded.

[CallMePaul]

I enjoyed the Schubert bedore the interval - I have always been impressed with this quartet's Schubert and this was a performance that, to my ear, brought out the connectioins between late Schubert and Bruckner. I cammot agree more with Stanley about the Shostakovich (which I listened to a few hours after being in the audience for tyhe BBC Phil's MediaCity concert which included a very different piece of Shostakovich in the shapoe of his 2nd cello concerto). I would not have thought an encore appropriate after late Shostakovich, but the Beethoven did work very well.