‘Modigliani Quartett’

The French Quatuor Modigliani celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with three landmarks from the string quartet repertoire. Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 7 in F major, dedicated to his patron Razumovsky, is brimming with great contrasts and whimsical turns that point ahead to his later work. Shostakovich, like Beethoven, wrote an entire oeuvre for his 15 string quartets. The foursome pairs his String Quartet No. 3 with the rarely performed 3 Pieces for String Quartet by that other great Russian, Igor Stravinsky. In three extremely tight pieces, a Russian folk song, the clown Littl Tich, and a wistful chorale pass by respectively.