5 BEETHOVEN LATE QUARTETS I [SOLD OUT]

Mozart: Quintet in Gm, K.516
Beethoven: Quartet in E-flat, Op.127

Elias Quartet
Gary Pomeroy, viola

The big journey that runs through ENF 2025 begins here: four of the finest string quartets in the world come together to perform five of the greatest pieces ever written for this line-up. Beethoven’s late quartets are simply without equal. Written around 200 years ago, they take you into his wonderful inner world of deep thought, jokes, reflections, and not a few surprises. Transporting, absorbing, poignant and hilarious by turns, there are many passages of utterly arresting beauty. Each piece is totally different from the others but as a group they offer an incomparable listening experience, especially live, and especially when performed by these ensembles.

Most of the concerts pair Beethoven with a contrasting work – here, it is Mozart‘s G minor quintet: like all his works in that key, it has its brooding side, but also infectious humour and vitality.

The four string quartets involved in this cycle are those that have made the greatest impact at ENF over the past two decades. The Elias came first in 2010, and were such a hit that they returned in 2011, when The Scotsman wrote: ‘While it is unusual for an ensemble to feature at the East Neuk Festival in consecutive years, no-one was going to be disappointed that the exception would be a return visit by the young Elias Quartet.’ Since then, they have undertaken their own huge Beethoven project which you can read about at http://thebeethovenproject.com