SCHUBERT QUINTET - The farewell

Bowral Memorial Hall

May 17th, 2pm

Sydney Art Quartet

violin Thibaud Pavlovic-Hobba

violin Anna Albert

viola Andrew Jezek

cello Andrew Hines

cello Paul Stender

PROGRAM

Franz Schubert - String Quintet in C major, D.956

Allegro ma non troppo

Adagio

Scherzo: Presto – Trio: Andante sostenuto

Allegretto

PROGRAM NOTES

Completed in the final weeks of Franz Schubert’s life in 1828, the String Quintet in C major stands not only as his last chamber work, but as one of the supreme achievements of the chamber music repertoire. Written for the unusual combination of string quartet plus a second cello, the work possesses a remarkable depth and warmth of sonority, creating a sound world at once intimate, expansive and profoundly human. Though Schubert never heard the piece performed publicly, it has since become one of the most treasured works in Western music.

The quintet unfolds across four movements of extraordinary emotional breadth. The opening Allegro moves effortlessly between serenity and turbulence, its long lyrical lines and unexpected harmonic turns creating a sense of constant discovery. At the heart of the work lies the celebrated Adagio, music of almost suspended stillness. A luminous, hymn-like calm is suddenly interrupted by a darker, agitated central episode before the opening music returns, transformed with even greater poignancy.

The Scherzo bursts forth with rhythmic energy and symphonic scale, contrasting sharply with its deeply introspective Trio, where time seems momentarily to stand still.

The final movement opens with a restless, dance-like theme that draws on the character of Austrian folk music, yet beneath its energy lies an unmistakable sense of ambiguity and unease. Moments of warmth and lyricism are continually shadowed by darker harmonic turns and sudden shifts in mood.

Composed during an astonishing final creative period that also produced the last piano sonatas and many of his greatest vocal works, the String Quintet in C major remains a work of rare emotional honesty and transcendence. Music that speaks across centuries with undiminished power.