The Violin Sonata in G is Brahms first sonata for those two instruments. It was written within five years of the work by Smetana. Smetana's programmatic 1st String Quartet (From My Life) attempts to capture the artist's emotions as his deafness worsened.

The Pacifica Quartet plays Beethoven's 6th Quartet; Wu Han and Juho pojhonen play a Mozart Four-Hand Sonata; Thomas Hampson sings lieder.

Beethoven was about 40 when he wrote his "Serioso" String Quartet (1810). Schumann was born the same year as the "Serioso" Quartet was composed.