Critic’s Choice
The Emerson String Quartet seems to be settling into its current formation with cellist Paul Watkins, judging by this season’s concerts on its Smithsonian Associates series. The group’s concert this weekend features two of Beethoven’s late quartets, the String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135, and the String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op.127.
In between the two is Alban Berg’s String Quartet, a piece less forbidding than its composer’s name might make you think. The fine acoustic and seemingly subterranean setting of the National Museum of Natural History’s Baird Auditorium are worth experiencing. Give it a shot 6 p.m. Sunday. smithsonianassociates.org; 202-633-3030.