Posted by LARRY FUCHSBERG
The original Ysaÿe Quartet, formed by the great violinist-composer-conductor Eugène Ysaÿe (pronounced "ee-sai-ee") in 1886, premiered Claude Debussy's singular string quartet seven years later. The modern, Paris-based Ysaÿe Quartet, founded in 1984 and named after the Belgian master, makes its belated local debut Sunday on the Schubert Club's Music in the Park Series. And what's on the program of this, the world's leading Francophone string quartet? The Debussy, of course. It's flanked by Brahms' Op. 51, No. 2 (perhaps the finest of his three quartets) and Wolfgang Rihm's "Quartettstudie."
The quartet's recent itinerary (Paris, St. Cloud [Sat. Feb. 25], St. Paul, Philadelphia, Miami Beach, Rome, Amsterdam) is a reminder of their international import.
(4 p.m. Feb. 26. St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ, 2129 Commonwealth Av., St. Paul. $24 adults; $12 student rush. 651-292-3268 or schubert.org/musicinthepark.)
