Evening concert: Smetana, Sjostakovitsj, Beethoven

A moving ego document in Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. The fifteen quartets of Shostakovich can be seen as one large personal document, and the dark Eleventh string quartet is no exception. The structure is exceptional: seven short, contiguous sections refer to the classical divertimento. Beethoven’s Eighth string quartet also features a minimal extramusical motif: in the third movement, a Russian theme appears as a tribute to the commissioner, the Russian ambassador Andrey Razumovsky.