Crypt Sessions Season 3 - Attacca Quartet, Beethoven Op. 132
Welcome back, my fine, Crypt-dwelling companions.
Following an extraordinary second season, which saw our concert by Conrad Tao selected to The New York Times list of the Best Classical Performances of 2017, I'm tremendously excited to announce Season 3 of The Crypt Sessions, beginning February 1, 2018, with the Attacca Quartet performing Beethoven's staggeringly beautiful final String Quartet, Op. 132.
- Andrew
The Long Version
The Attacca Quartet - universally praised as one of the top American string quartets by small, unimportant news outlets like NPR, The New York Times, and the Washington Post - return to the Crypt Sessions, following up their heart-rending Season 1 performance of Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross with what is simply one of the most extraordinarily powerful, transcendently life-affirming pieces of music ever written: Beethoven's final String Quartet, the towering Op. 132.
Beethoven had been deaf for more than 25 years when he wrote this piece, and the sounds he created out of that long internal silence are almost otherworldly at times. The beating, bleeding heart of it is the miraculous, 18-minute central slow movement, which Beethoven wrote after recovering from a terrible illness and titled "Hymn of thanks to God from one who is healed." Tomes have been written on this deeply-moving expression of the human condition, and any words here will fall short of the performance that this remarkable ensemble will give it on February 1st.
The Short Version
Join us for an evening you will never forget - one of the finest quartets performing today, playing one of the most life-changingly beautiful, profoundly human pieces of music ever composed.
There will be a wine tasting and hors d'ouevres reception at 7:00 (included in ticket price) before descending into the crypt. The wines and food are selected and prepared by Fay Eva of Ward 8 Events, and are tailored to the characteristics of the music being performed.
