PERFORMANCE

Merkin Hall
What Makes It Great?

Beethoven - String Quartet No. 16, Op. 135

"The F-major Quartet was Beethoven's last completed work, finished only five months before his death. On the manuscript of the last movement, he writes, “The very difficult question” and then above the movement's 6 key notes, “Must it be?” and “It must be.” The meaning of these words as well as the quartet's unique mixture of the serious and the playful, the cosmic and the comic, have made the work one of Beethoven's most enigmatic masterpieces. Join Rob Kapilow and the Harlem Quartet as they explore the mysteries of Beethoven's final work."