This program features works that were written at a time when each composer was about to embark in a new direction.  Many have wondered what Mozart would have written had he lived past the ripe old age of 35.  The increased prevalence of dark sonorities and contrapuntal writing in his Adagio and Fugue, one of his latest works, may offer a clue.  Similarly, Ligeti’s Métamorphoses nocturnes represents the beginnings of a transformation of new sounds and unusual timbres that he would later became famous for.  Written during what Ligeti called his “prehistoric” period, this piece was greatly influenced by Béla Bartók’s 3rd and 4th string quartets, which he only knew by studying the scores, as performances were banned on the Soviet bloc.  Famously, Beethoven was known for breaking the classical traditions and forms and began this path very clearly with his Opus 59 quartets, representing his “middle period.”  By expanding the development, tonality and length in this piece, Beethoven was on the verge of bringing the Classical Period into the Romantic.