Schubert’s Quintet

Awe and wonder. These are not uncommon responses to the works of Schubert and Beethoven, but their string quintets never fail to elicit such a reaction. We find grandeur in both of these monumental works of chamber music. Majesty and intimacy simultaneously.

Schubert’s career was marked by admiration for Beethoven and his desire to match the heights achieved by his hero. In his “perfect” Quintet, probably the best longform piece of chamber music ever written, he achieved that goal.

Composed in the final weeks of his far-too-short life, the writing is symphonic, alluding to far more harmonic colours and textures than had ever been thought possible for an ensemble of this size.

Featuring a star-studded ACO ensemble, this soulful journey through sadness, fear, contemplation and joy is the intimate and the grand brilliantly merged.