The prizewinning French quartet Quatuor Voce brings the Brahms series to a close with a trio of concerts exploring some of the composer’s greatest works for strings.

Weighed down by expectations, Brahms avoided writing string quartets for many years, but when he finally took the plunge the results were astonishing. Viola player Hélène Desaint joins Quatuor Voce for Brahms’ two late string quintets, the second of which has been described by American violinist Isaac Stern as ‘one of the greatest works written for any group of any kind’, while Florent Héau swells the ranks to perform the Clarinet Quintet, a ‘gorgeous and expansive’ work ‘every bit as fine as Mozart’s’ (Gramophone).

Sarah Dayan & Cécile Roubin (violins), Guillaume Becker (viola), Lydia Shelley (cello).

Programme I (17 August)
String Quartet No. 3, Op. 67
Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115

Programme II (18 August)
String Quartet No. 1, Op. 51 No. 1
String Quintet No. 2, Op. 111

Programme III (19 August)
String Quartet No. 2, Op. 51 No. 2
String Quintet No. 1, Op. 88