What does it sound like when a composer takes on the “ultimate test” of creating music for a string quartet?

The Reynolda Quartet sets the music of legendary composers Robert Schumann and Ludwig van Beethoven side by side, revealing a creative dialogue across generations that still defines the form today.

Faculty artists Ida Bieler and Janet Orenstein, violin; Brett Deubner, viola; and Brooks Whitehouse, cello present a moving program of Schumann’s String Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 41, No. 1 alongside Beethoven’s String Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2.

Together, these works trace a connection between compositional influence, musical ambition and the enduring challenge of the string quartet.