Tonight, I paid my first visit this season to the People's Symphony Concerts, where the Washington Irving High School Auditorium was packed for a concert by the Juilliard String Quartet, performing Haydn, Dutillieux, and Beethoven (the Op. 127). Not very long ago, the Juilliard could reasonably claim to be the Great American String Quartet, the one Carter, Babbitt, Schuller and other world beaters all wrote for. If they've since been eclipsed in that role by the Emerson Quartet, don't count these guys out just yet: they've got chops and brio to burn, and with about 50 years of performing experience, they could teach those younger guys a thing or two about the benefits of quiet confidence. They got a nice ovation, but after one curtain call, the folks in the audience decided it was time to catch the Senior Shuttle home. Works for me: encores are overrated anyway. (More pics below.)