Adrian Butterfield violin

Dominika Fehér violin

Rachel Stott viola

Ruth Alford cello

Beethoven     String quartet in B flat op. 130

                           with Grosse Fuge

                       String quartet in F op. 135

The Revolutionary Drawing Room performs repertoire of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the age of the great European revolutions, using instruments of a period when political upheavals were matched by changes in styles and tastes both in music and the instruments used.  The ensemble has presented all Beethoven’s quartets in a four-year series at St John’s Smith Square, culminating this October with the composer's late quartets.

The opus 130 quartet is played as the composer originally intended – with the mighty Grosse fuge as its final movement.  This was considered so extreme by listeners and performers that Beethoven substituted a lighter movement, the fugue being published separately as opus 133.  In his last major work, the opus 135 quartet, completed just five months before his death, Beethoven returned to a simpler form.  Its final movement is headed ‘The Difficult Decision’, concluding with the phrase ‘It must be’.

To watch the performance, please visit our YouTube channel (link below) at the date and time shown above.

https://www.youtube.com/c/YorkConcerts