Vienna’s incomparable musical legacy rests largely on the shoulders of two giants: Haydn, represented here by his glorious “Emperor” Quartet from his last cycle, and Beethoven, whose monumental late-period Op. 131 quartet was his self-acknowledged favorite.

Some 80 years after Beethoven and reputedly inspired by his late quartets, Webern (a pillar of the Second Viennese School) created the wondrously spare Six Bagatelles, still breath-taking today, a century after their inception.