With their “luminous beauty of sound”, the Dorics return to the Aldeburgh Festival for a combination of early and late Beethoven with Fantasias by Purcell.

Beethoven’s genial third quartet was actually the first that he wrote. Already a composer of great invention, it is humorous and vivacious with only a hint of poignancy. Beautifully paired here, his last quartet, the op.135, carries the light touch of infinite wisdom and charity as a composer’s life draws to an end.

Between them come splendid Fantasias of Henry Purcell, such an inspiration on Britten three centuries later. In their invention and variety they encompass whole worlds: as Mark Steinberg says, “they both lament and dance, wail and playfully scurry. They seem to explore the boundary between private and public music, now on this side now on that, and do so with the utmost guileless naturalness”.

We also hear Andrea Tarrodi’s third quartet from 2014, Light Scattering. She writes: “The first idea that came to mind when I started composing was the idea of glass in different shapes, colours and structures. Then I started thinking about how different glass types reflect and refract the sunlight, how the light dances on the surface of the water and how it bounces from mirrors and shines through windows”.

Doric String Quartet:
Maia Cabeza violin
Ying Xue violin
Emma Wernig viola
John Myerscough cello