It’s the opening to the slow movement from Quartet No. 16, Opus 135, in which Beethoven wrote in the score, “Must It Be? -- It Must Be!” Each instrument enters one at a time to create a gorgeous ...

Save for a handful of renegades and visionaries, classical musicians tend to put fidelity to the score close to the top of their priorities. That comes with certain constraints—especially when playing ...

A few months back I sat on the jury of a string quartet competition and listened for two days to a succession of student ensembles playing Beethoven’s Op 18 No 5. I hadn’t realised how an experience ...