Since Johann Sebastian Bach, the musical form of the fugue has represented the ultimate challenge of counterpoint in which the composer must strike that intricate balance between each voice’s individual integrity and its role within the greater whole. Similarly, the string quartet is a medium that inherently balances between the unity of the homogenous collective and the expressive individuality of four independent voices. Following the fugue’s full maturation in the works of Bach, composers have used the string quartet as a vessel to explore the form and mold it to each of their compositional styles.

The Telegraph Quartet explores the fugue and its evolution from Bach to our time, through Bach’s Art of Fugue, works of Haydn and Harbison, and Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge, the apotheosis of the fugue through the string quartet.