MUSIC

Picking up on the idea started by their pop music counterparts, a gathering of 38 string quartets played for more than 30 hours last weekend in London’s Barbican Center in a fund raiser for famine relief in Africa. The musicians, ranging from internationally known performers to students, played all 84 quartets by Franz Josef Haydn. Organizer Jocelyn Selson claimed that never before in public have all 84 quartets been played in one sitting: “It’s a sort of record.” The final tally is not yet in, but Selson Tuesday said donations so far totaled about $8,000.