For more than four decades, the Tokyo String Quartet has been a paragon among chamber ensembles. Each of the group’s members plays a Stradivari instrument, contributing to the foursome’s distinctive sound, and their concert and recorded cycles of Beethoven and Bartok quartets have won acclaim.

With the coming retirement of long-time members violinist Kikuei Ikeda and violist Kazuhide Isomura, the quartet has decided to retire. In the midst of an extensive farewell tour, the Tokyo presented a superb program of Mozart, Bartok and Mendelssohn for Friends of Chamber Music. A large and supportive audience filled the University of Miami’s Gusman Concert Hall Tuesday for an evening of great music-making that transcended the inevitable sentimentality and nostalgia.

Read the review at SouthFloridaClassicalReview.com.