Forbidden Love
The award-winning Emerson Quartet makes a welcome return to the International Chamber Music Season with a programme of string quartets from the 1920s that express their composer's most intimate thoughts.
Both Berg's and Janacek's pieces are about forbidden love and are driven by emotional upheaval.
Berg's Lyric Suite contains hidden coded messages for his lover, documenting his illicit relationship with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin. Janacek's Intimate Letters are inspired by his passionate correspondence with a much younger woman.
Bartok's String Quartet No.3 was composed in the wake of the Lyric Suite and Bartok acknowledged a strong influence of Berg's work on his own thinking.
