How do you approach listening to chamber music?

[Maestro267]

I'm beginning to develop an appreciation for the string quartet medium in terms of it being the composer's "musical biography". Obviously I know that's not the case with all such works, but there definitely feels like more of an intimacy in this medium vs the grand public statement of the symphony. For instance, Mendelssohn's SQ No. 6 in F minor being his expression of grief at the death of Fanny Mendelssohn. Or Smetana's SQ No. 1 and its shocking conclusion.