The Castalian String Quartet is known for its ‘powerful individuality of sound’ (The Scotsman) and the ‘perfection’ (The Observer) of its performances. The quartet’s recital features two masterpieces of the chamber repertoire, alongside a world premiere.

Leoš Janáček’s The Kreutzer Sonata is an impassioned musical reflection on Leo Tolstoy’s short story about an ill-fated love triangle. The world premiere of leading British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Awake, co-commissioned by the quartet, promises to be equally potent.

Poet T. S. Eliot described Ludwig van Beethoven's late works as ‘heavenly’. Op 130 – the third of five quartets the composer wrote in the last two years of his life – is one of his most extraordinary achievements. Highlights include a beautiful cavatina, which Beethoven said he composed ‘in the tears of melancholy’. The piece’s finale (the Grosse Fuge) continues to astonish listeners with its musical athleticism.

Supported by Susie Thomson