by Daniel Hathaway
The Barcelona-based Cuarteto Casals seems to have a standing invitation from the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, having visited its series every other year in at least the past decade — and for good reason. Abel Tomàs, Vera Martínez Mehner, Jonathan Brown, and Arnau Tomàs bring an engaging Iberian intensity to their repertoire — along with the kind of inquisitive spirit that leads them to experiment with different styles of bows, collaborate with living composers, and commission new works. [Read more…]
“To live with this piece is to imagine a genius at the absolute height of his powers, yet virtually isolated from the world,” Cuarteto Casals violist Jonathan Brown said. “Beethoven was deaf in his disorderly room in Vienna where few people wanted to be associated with him. There he was struggling with his artistic demons. He wrote, and rewrote this quartet extensively, but he was working with his own criteria — there’s no other model, there’s no other work like this.” 
The program might have looked conventional, but Cuarteto Casals’ performances of string quartets by Haydn, Shostakovich, and Beethoven on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society series last Tuesday at Plymouth Church were exceptional. Every piece shone with its own individual character, contributing many-hued elements to an outstanding whole. 
The Barcelona-based Cuarteto Casals will continue the Cleveland Chamber Music Society’s 66th season at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights on Tuesday, October 27 at 7:30 pm with a program of string quartets by Joseph Haydn, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Ludwig van Beethoven.
