The London-based Doric String Quartet is making its fourth visit to Australia, this time joined by award-winning Adelaide-based clarinettist Lloyd Van’t Hoff for a seven-city national tour. 

The first half of the program consists of rarified works by Britten and Adès, balanced by a substantive Beethoven String Quartet in the second half – cleverly crafted program that demonstrates the players’ technical skill and artistry across three diverse works. The music leaps off the page – as do the artists themselves at times, from their chairs – in an exciting and enthralling concert. 

Doric String Quartet & Lloyd Van’t Hoff (centre). Photo © Alex Jamieson

The first movement of Britten’s Three Divertimenti for String Quartet, The March, gets off to a breathless rhythmic start, with clearly articulated glissandi and pizzicato tumbling over previous instrumental notes with alacrity and accuracy.

The second movement, Waltz, offers a swooning melodic theme, superbly maintained by John Myerscough’s pizzicato cello, while quirky individual touches are expertly delivered by Maia Cabeza and Ying Xue’s violins and Emma Wernig’s viola. Fun, exciting and very lively, the movement sparkles throughout.

Burlesque, with its raucous and comic overtones, sees all...