Intimate Style Schubert's String Quintet in C - pleases STEPHEN FRANCIS VASTA '... unusually sensitive, freshly considered ...'

Here's an unusually sensitive, freshly considered account of this familiar masterpiece, making the most of its contrasts and lyricism without violating interpretive norms or compromising the sense of structure.

The first movement's introduction is tentatively, searchingly voiced, the tone held somewhat in reserve. The players launch the first subject proper in taut, full-bodied strokes, eliciting from it an almost operatic drama; they relax slightly for the lyrical second group, singing it gently, letting it blossom. (That the tempo adjustment is considered, rather than reflexive, shows in the recapitulation, where this theme flows straightforwardly within the established pulse.)

FRANZ SCHUBERT

HARMONIA MUNDI

AUSTRIA

GERMANY

CHAMBER MUSIC