A classical master and two 20th-century giants are united in the concert of the Belcea Quartet, with Shostakovich’s expansive, five-movement Third String Quartet as the centerpiece. Composed the year following the end of the Second World War, it is here complemented by Webern’s youthful quartet movement, a highly expressive piece of late Romanticism written while the composer was studying with Arnold Schoenberg, and the second of Beethoven’s three "Razumovsky" Quartets, in which he brought symphonic scale to chamber music for the first time.

Founded in 1994 at London’s Royal College of Music, the Belcea Quartet is equally known for its performances of the Classical and Romantic repertoire and for numerous world premieres. For the 2017–18 season, the four musicians will be artists-in-residence at the Pierre Boulez Saal.

This concert is part of the Quartet Festival.