Congratulations are in order to the Danish String Quartet and pianist Andras Schiff for making The New York Times' annual "Year in Culture" list. 

Of Schiff's October and November performances at 92Y, Anthony Tommasini writes:

Yet while it is essential for classical music to keep reinventing itself with unconventional programs, we should not forget how exciting it can be when a great artist takes an audience on a comprehensive journey through a body of major repertory. A thrilling example was provided this fall by Andras Schiff, a master pianist who turns 59 on Friday. He played Bach’s complete “Well-Tempered Clavier,” all 48 preludes and fugues, at the 92nd Street Y — Book 1 on the first night, Book 2 five days later. Mr. Schiff has done his share of innovative programming, but here was a remarkable artist who has played Bach all his life performing, with uncanny confidence, some of the most complex music ever written. And from memory.

On paper these may have looked like academic programs. Yet for its exciting combination of musical pleasure and intellectual stimulation Mr. Schiff’s traversal of “The Well-Tempered Clavier” was incomparable.

(Click to read the full article)

Regarding the Danish String Quartet's Scandinavia House, Vivien Schweitzer writes:

I had read glowing reviews of this group and expected a high-level performance when I attended its concert at Scandinavia House in October. But I was still taken by surprise, in a hall half empty and off the beaten track, to enjoy one of the most powerful renditions of Beethoven’s Opus 132 String Quartet that I’ve heard live or on a recording.

(Click to read the full article)

To learn more about Andras Schiff, click here.
To learn more about the Danish String Quartet, click here.