Schubertiade 2
Nevertheless we experience his music as something so incredibly life-affirming.
It bursts with romance, coquetry, intimacy and exuberant life in every single phrase. When we brought together a group of the best musicians in Europe for this concert, it was in order to protect every single quality of Schubert’s famous octet in F major.
The octet is like a complete symphony set in chamber format with the orchestration of string quintet, clarinet, bassoon and horn. It was first performed in true Schubertiade spirit – at home with clarinetist Ferdinand Troyer. Troyer commissioned the work from Schubert following Beethoven’s huge success with his septet with almost the same instrumentation (octet has an extra violin). Beethoven’s work provided indeed in many ways a strong inspiration for Schubert’s composition of the octet – parallels both in movements and keys are to be found. But the music is entirely Schubert’s own where he retrieves themes from Der Wanderer to his first movement of the octet.
The program also includes Dvorak’s String Quintet No. 2 in G major, also known as the bass quintet and Isang Yun’s trio for clarinet, bassoon and horn.