What began as a form of non-professional domestic music-making in earlier centuries has become a laboratory for innovative ideas: in the string quartet genre, composers from the Classical Era to the present day have been exploring and expanding the boundaries of form, sound, and expression time and again. Over the course of the 2021–22 season, a varied selection of quartet repertoire will be heard in the elliptical space of the Pierre Boulez Saal, which is ideally suited to the blending of tradition and innovation, and, with its intimate atmosphere, brings listeners closer to the music than most other venues.
In the third concert of its Shostakovich cycle, the Hagen Quartett presents the Russian composer's Quartets Nos. 7, 8, and 9. The Staatskapelle String Quartet continues its season-spanning Schoenberg series, performing his Quartet No. 3. String quartets by Schubert, Szymanowski, and Brahms are heard by the Belcea Quartet.
