The ASQ’s devotion to their craft and their thoughtfulness in preparing for their performances are amply demonstrated in their Inner Voices podcasts. One of them concerns Benjamin Britten’s String Quartet No. 2, Op. 36 of 1945, and they discuss Britten’s personal life, his pacifism and how his experience of World War II and his visit to former German concentration camps affected his music.

Britten’s second quartet, a significant work in the quartet genre, was commissioned for a concert commemorating the 250th anniversary of the death of Henry Purcell, a composer whom Britten greatly admired, though the quartet form was unknown in Purcell’s era.

The Australian String Quartet: Convergence. Photo © Kane Moroney

The first movement of Britten’s second quartet is marked Allegro calmo senza rigore, allowing performers freedom of interpretation. At the opening, all four instruments play the same motif and sound like a single instrument, and throughout the quartet, there are passages where the four instruments perform in unison before separating into individual voices. The opening is atmospheric, but the overall feel of the first movement is of restlessness.

Throughout the short,...