“I don’t think I want to hear another performance of ‘Death and the Maiden’, that was just perfect”. This reaction by one member of the audience to the remarkable playing of
Opus13 may not be good for Schubert’s future listening figures but is very understandable. NYS is lucky to be included in the UK tour organised by the Wigmore for winners of its triennial international string quartet competition. Last time we had the Leonkoro Quartet, this time the Scandinavian Opus13.

What was so remarkable about their playing? Well, first their intonation was intelligently accurate; this showed most clearly for me in their performance of Bartok’s third quartet where its usually puzzlingly complex chord sequences finally made sense to me. Second, their ensemble was a wonder: Haydn’s Op77 no 1 quartet sparkled in its chirpy accompaniments and sang its soulful slow melodies with a luscious beauty of sound: a beauty that no doubt owed something to their wonderful instruments, but mostly was the result of the care with which each note was shaped and each phrase thought through. Particularly moving for me was their pianissimo playing in the Schubert slow movement variations: it is certainly not easy to maintain such beauty of sound across the quartet when playing so quietly.

So thank you Opus13 for a wonderful concert. I’m very sorry for those potential audience members who missed it – but do come along on to our next concert on November 13th !