Simply Quartet Presented by Liszt Academy

First Viennese School, Romanticism, 20th century. Simply Quartet, founded in Shanghai in 2008 and renewed ten years later, since when they have been based in Vienna, select a work by a key figure from each of these music history periods. Haydn’s string quartet series composed for Count Erdődy and awash in amazing musical ideas opened new doors in the story of the genre by exploiting to the maximum the potential afforded by the four instruments – the part of the cycle performed here is famed, among other things, for its achingly beautiful second movement. Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E minor, an out-and-out Romantic work, dates from a good 40 years later. Its ‘singing’ melody enchants the listener. Bartók’s final quartet was completed around a century later, in 1939, and it now ranks as a classic of the repertoire thanks to its masterful construction, development and variety.