The day ends with a splendid performance of Beethoven's C sharp minor quartet opus 131, by the Vanburgh Quartet from Ireland. After working all evening on new music, Beethoven manages to seem even newer and more inventive. How does he do it? He seems to have thought of every gesture, every sonority, every layering process, every shocking contrast. And yet he does it all within a tonal language. As ever, the most touching things are the simplest, though their simplicity has a complex effect. There are still passages where, although I've known this work for twenty years, tears spring into my eyes. << less