Recently I had the great pleasure of listening to the Sacconi Quartet as they rehearsed Britten’s Third Quartet. It brought back memories of the remarkable experience of playing through the quartet with its composer back in 1975, with, in the Finale, Britten playing the cello part with his good left hand. Watching the work grow over several months was very special : he had reached the fourth movement just before his final visit to Venice in November, and I don’t know how far he had planned the final movement in advance, with its references to Death in Venice. Perhaps not in detail, because it was the sound of the bells of Santa Maria della Salute that he heard from his hotel that influenced the passacaglia theme which pervades the movement. I was able to suggest a few things to the Sacconis, but their fine performance needed very little but praise.