Schubert – String Quintet

‘The richest and most productive eighteen months in music history’ is how the English composer Benjamin Britten described Franz Schubert’s final period, when works including the magisterial String Quintet in C major saw the light of day.

For besides the quintet, Die Winterreise, the Symphony in C major (‘the Great’) and the last three piano sonatas flowed from Schubert’s pen. Since Beethoven’s death in 1827, Schubert was engrossed in the development of largescale musical forms, and certainly succeeded in this in the fifty minutes of the quintet. It is not the music of a man who knows he will die by the age of thirty-one, but music born of an almost volcanic ambition, comparable to that of Beethoven when he entrusted his string quartets opus 18 to paper.

(From liner notes by Clemens Romijn)

‘The playing is terrific: tasteful phrasing, gracious ensemble intuition and a string sound that’s luminous and poised.’

– The Guardian ****

‘Right at the opening of Schubert’s String Quintet, you will be amazed at the great contrasts between total silence and drama, and the color palette that ranges from ethereal to deep droning bass tones.

– Volkskrant *****

‘Tragic depth and symphonic power. An incredibly suggestive interpretation.’

– Sachsische Zeitung

‘The instruments blend well, don’t overwhelm each other and have clarity, edge and depth.’

– Audio Review