IT was indeed “third time lucky” for music lovers as the Brodsky Quartet finally made it to Skipton, after two previous concerts had been cancelled as a result of Covid. A packed Skipton Town Hall and ecstatic applause made clear that it was truly worth the wait.

The programme was carefully planned to culminate in Beethoven’s Quartet in A minor, one of the “late quartets” which are still astonishing today for their originality, inventiveness and emotional appeal.

The Brodsky know this music intimately and it showed in every lovingly cherished phrase, above all in the hauntingly beautiful slow movement. The surrounding movements too were full of refined power and energy, with the uneasy final movement bringing the concert to a deeply satisfying conclusion.

In the first half the Brodsky played two short works inspired by Beethoven and written for the quartet, by Karen Tanaka and Henning Kraggerud. Despite the Brodsky’s compelling advocacy neither work made a memorable impression on your reviewer.

In contrast, the work which followed, the 4th quartet of Shostakovich – another composer who the Brodsky have championed – was a fascinating discovery. This was one of a number of works which Shostakovich wrote during Stalin’s second clamp-down on “modernist” composers but only unveiled after the tyrant’s death.

It contains reference to the Jewish “klezmer” style, perhaps in tribute to the Jewish musicians who Shostakovich befriended. In the Brodsky’s hands it became a moving and defiant assertion of the human spirit in the face of oppression.

After such a fine concert an encore might seem almost superfluous, but the Brodsky’s choice of Rachmaninov’s “vocalise”, in their own arrangement for string quartet, made a perfect ending to a wonderful evening.

The next concert in Skipton Music’s 2023-24 season is on January 23 and features the Meliora Collective, a chamber orchestra from Manchester, with more “hidden treasures” (works by women composers) including the nonet by Louise Farrenc. Details and tickets from Skipton Music's website at https://www.skiptonmusic.org.uk/