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ISQ in Concert

The Isidore String Quartet performs the second movement of Haydn’s String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20 No. 5, during a recent performance at the Virginia Tech Center for the Arts. The movement takes the familiar form of a minuet and trio, but Haydn continually unsettles its apparent simplicity through irregular phrase lengths, unexpected extensions, and cadences that seem to arrive only to reveal that the musical thought is not yet finished. In characteristic Haydn fashion, musical expectation itself becomes part of the drama, as phrases stretch beyond their anticipated endings and familiar conventions are subtly turned on their head.