PCM 8 - 4.09.17: Elias String Quartet & Alice Neary

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

13:00 Monday 4 September 2017
Cadogan Hall

Franz Schubert: String Quintet in C major

Elias String Quartet
Alice Neary cello

Schubert's final chamber work is a piece of sublime beauty, a masterpiece of the repertoire composed only two months before the composer's death at the age of just 31. Instead of the additional viola preferred by Mozart and Beethoven in their string quintets, Schubert adds a second cello, to create a work of sonorous beauty. From its expansive opening Allegro and the fragile beauty of the Adagio to its exuberant Scherzo and good-humoured closing Allegretto, this is a work of boundless invention and charm. Former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists the Elias String Quartet are joined by cellist Alice Neary.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The final Proms Chamber Music concert of the season

[Constantbee]

Anyone else looking forward to this? Tempted yesterday afternoon to trawl through online archives for a Soft Machine prom recording. But no. Thought better of it and decided to acquaint myself with the Schubert Quintet. Listened - twice, second time with the help of an online score (YouTube). Recommended :goofy:

[Constantbee]

A little gem. Hang on for the C major chord in the last bar. The way they lean on the appoggiatura just about sums up the wit and enthusiasm of the young ensemble.

[Stanley Stewart]

A most rejuvenating end to the Cadogan Hall series - must record next Sunday's R3 repeat!

[bluestateprommer]

Generally a fine performance of D. 956, although IMHO, I found some of the slightly stretched tempi in the first two movements to be a bit self-conscious. I don't know if it's because the musicians felt the need to "fill out the hour", or perhaps it reflected working with a substitute violist, since according to Petroc, their regular violist is out now with injuries. But D. 956 is always worth a listen.