The Elias String Quartet seems to live inside the pieces it plays. The ensemble conveys both emotional and structural sophistication with astounding clarity. Formed at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music a quarter-century ago, the Elias is both a definitive interpreter of standard repertoire, having recorded Beethoven’s entire output for quartet, and a passionate champion of the world’s best living composers. Heralded for its “bold, rich tone and deeply-felt interpretation” by The New York Times, it ranks among the most venerated quartets of its generation.

For its second Duke appearance, the Elias couples two classics with a new work written just for them. The concert begins with String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor (“Rosamunde”) — the only one of Schubert’s quartets to be published in his lifetime. The concert concludes with Schumann’s emotionally charged Quartet in A Minor. The last of a triptych of quartets he wrote in 1842, it is elegantly doleful — almost a lament. Between the Schubert and the Schumann, the Elias play a new work commissioned from the engaging British composer Sally Beamish as a companion piece for the Schumann.

Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor (“Rosamunde”)

Sally Beamish: New commission, title to be announced

Schumann: String Quartet in A Minor, op. 41, no. 1