From the opening notes we dive straight in to this performance by the ACO and are treated to a superb concert full of magnificent playing that is highly accomplished, unobtrusively flamboyant and totally captivating.
The quintet is divided into four parts:
- Allegro ma non troppo
- Adagio
- Scherzo. Presto – Trio. Andante sostenuto and
- 4 Allegretto
This quintet was written in the last months of SCHUBERT’s life in 1828 but unpublished and unperformed until the 1850’s. The ACO gives a many layered, heartfelt performance of shimmering crystalline precision with great attention paid to the structure of the work . The ACO quintet consists of its five core members – Richard Tognetti on violin, Helena Rathbone also on violin, Stefanie Farrands on viola, Timo-Veikko Valve on cello and Melissa Barnard also on cello.
The Studiocast, directed by Matisse Ruby, was filmed at the new cutting-edge Phoenix Central Park venue in Chippendale. At first the auditorium is bathed in pleasant lighting but then for the second movement is coldly, starkly lit, highlighting the concrete walls and pipes. We then eventually return to the sensitively lit main concert hall. Lighting for the third movement was swaying beams of warm light. For the final movement Ruby and Tyson Perkins used a wash of coruscating orange lights.
The first movement, the allegro, opens dark and quivering, then turns spiky.
The quintet – led by Tognetti – have a great discussion that ripples, swirls, and eddies. Sometimes it is prickly, fast and furious, with fluttering violins and a marching, hurrying atmosphere with an emphatic pulsating beat underneath.
The musical structure is taken, developed and passed around the various instruments. At times there is the breathless stutter of a pulsating rhythm underneath that flickers and darts.
The second movement is sumptuously divine – It flows and floats with delicate plucked strings and an undercurrent of an accompanying rhythm. The mood suddenly changes to intense and vehement with a palpitating rhythm then becomes darker, at times like falling raindrops, jittery and murmuring.
Then there is a sudden change to a bustling, skittering, pounding, jumping, darting atmosphere on the strings .
This is followed by a slower tempo with the cellos rumbling while the violins answer in an aching, heartfelt lament. The music then zig zags between the five members of the ensemble; running, darting, leaping, scurrying..
Next comes a sprightly, tumbling dance like allegro, where the circular melody is taken and passed around the quintet. In this movement the allegretto blends elements of a rondo with sonata form, and includes Hungarian rhythms leading to anxious,, scampering flurries taking us to a tumultuous ending .
A glorious concert. To enjoy the concert click on the link below:
https://www.acostudiocasts.com/detail/videos/aco-studiocasts/video/6210216824001/schubert-s-quintet
The Australian Chamber Orchestra in Schubert’s Quintet screens 29 September 2021 and then on demand until 31 December 2021
Running time : 60 minutes.