Britten, Shostakovich, Mozart, Widmann ****
Belcea Quartet, Jörg Widmann, Piotr Anderszewski, Snape Maltings
Benjamin Britten’s spirit haunts Snape Maltings just as the ghosts of his final opera Death in Venice haunt his Third String Quartet. Resignation and isolation are etched into its tersely written pages. Venetian lagoons lap the waters of “Duets” and in “La Serenissima”, quotations from the opera can he deciphered. The Belcea Quartet placed Britten’s final major work as the centrepiece of the first of their two Aldeburgh Festival recitals this weekend, completely getting to its slightly sinister heart.
Belcea Quartet and Jörg Widmann
© Matt Joly
Read the full review on Bachtrack.