The Leonkoro Quartet’s programme recalls Britten’s deep affinity for the music of Purcell, the ‘English Orpheus’, and includes Britten’s Third String Quartet, the last substantial work that he completed before his death 50 years to this day on 4 December 1976. Zeb Soanes reads extracts from Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice before the performance of String Quartet No. 3.