We start this Sunday with perhaps Beethoven’s most gentle, consistently lyrical string quartet. Although numbered as his third, it was actually the first work he composed for string quartet. A radiant start to the day!

Nadia Boulanger was a student of Fauré and, in addition to her compositions, made a name for herself as a world-famous professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory. In these three short pieces for cello and piano we hear the tradition: the serene expressiveness of the first, the sweet melancholy of the second and even the playfulness of the last seem to reflect the chamber music of Gabriel Fauré.

If one were to call Faure’s ultimate ‘chef d’œuvre’, those who know his work best tend to agree on the second piano quintet. A sublime work with a deep serenity by a great poet, wise and lyrical…

Ludwig van Beethoven – String quartet no 3 in D major, opus 18 no 3

Malin Broman, Aki Saulière (violin),  Lily Francis (viola), Amy Norrington (cello)

Nadia Boulanger – Trois Pièces for cello and piano 

Ivan Karizna (cello), Alasdair Beatson (piano)

Gabriël Fauré – Quintet for piano and strings no 2 in c minor, op.115

Alasdair Beatson (clavier), Pablo Hernán Benedi, Alice van Leuven (violons), Florent Brémond  (alto), David Waterman (violoncelle)