Alma Quartet continues its ambitious Late Quartets series by bringing together two extraordinary works that share more than the same opus number. Beethovens String Quartet No. 13, Op. 130, with the monumental Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, travels from dark humour and gentle melancholy to the profoundly moving Cavatina and a finale that was so radical in 1826 that audiences struggled to comprehend it. Nearly two centuries later, the Grosse Fuge still sounds astonishingly modern - music Stravinsky famously considered contemporary forever." Shostakovichs String Quartet No. 12, Op. 133 forms a fascinating counterpart. Built around a twelve-tone series, it transforms an ostensibly modernist technique into music that is lyrical, emotional and surprisingly accessible. Its expansive second movement moves from fierce virtuosity and almost symphonic intensity towards a visceral, liberating conclusion. In Alma Quartets hands, these two Opus 133 worlds become part of a larger conversation across time - the second instalment of their multi-year project pairing the late quartets of Beethoven and Shostakovich.