Schubert Quintet

Agata Daraškaitė violin
Magdalena Loth-Hill violin
Elitsa Bogdanova viola
George Ross cello
with Philip Higham cello

Mozart – String Quartet in A, K.464 ‘The Drum’
Schubert- String Quintet in C, D.956

Mozart’s Quartet in A is one of six that the composer dedicated to Haydn and, while the task of writing a set worthy of a tribute to his ‘most celebrated and very dear friend’ caused him much anxiety that led to numerous revisions of the score, the version that emerged is full of effortless grace and ingenuity.

It is astonishing to think that Schubert’s Quintet – his final, majestic composition – was not heard in public until 22 years after the composer’s death. Framed by lively outer movements that bear strong folk influences, it is nevertheless the profound slow movement with its beauty, innocence and pathos that plucks at every heart.

“A hymn which floats above the mortal sphere” Mark Steinberg on Schubert’s Quintet in C