In the organizer's words:

Chamber music: Schubert and Brahms

Musicians from the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra play Schubert's String Trio in B flat major and his Piano Quintet in A major as well as Brahms' Piano Quartet No. 3.

Mon, 12.05.2025 | 8 pm
Hamburg, Rolf-Liebermann-Studio(Oberstraße 120)

Tue, 13.05.2025 | 7.30 pm
Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Small Hall (Platz der Deutschen Einheit 1)

Julius Beck Violin
Anna Theegarten Viola
Phillip Wentrup Violoncello
Benedikt Kany Double bass
Malte Schäfer Piano

FRANZ SCHUBERT
String Trio Movement in B flat major D 471
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor op. 60
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Piano Quintet in A major D 667 ("Trout Quintet")

Johannes Brahms, an early admirer of Bach and Beethoven, only discovered his love for Schubert relatively late. He felt it all the more intensely - and the more the Austrian composer eventually rose in his esteem. For many years, he was an unofficial contributor to the first major Schubert complete edition - and in this way became a profound connoisseur of Schubert's works.

Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3

Before rushing to complete a composition, Johannes Brahms preferred to put it aside for a few years. This was also the case with the Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, which began as early as 1855 with a quartet in C sharp minor. It was not completed until 1875 and Brahms was never quite able to free himself from a certain uncertain attitude towards the work. He wrote to his friend Billroth and the publisher Simrock that they were welcome to put a picture on the title page, "namely a head - with a pistol in front of it". This mood is already served in the pathetic first movement with the shattering forte chord of the piano and the subsequent sighs of the strings. The quartet forms a chamber music counterpart to the First Symphony in C minor, which Brahms completed shortly afterwards.

Schubert: String trio movement D 471 and piano quintet D 667

Schubert's parents' house was a regular meeting place for chamber music; the whole family was involved, divided between the various instruments. Of the two string trios composed in 1816/1817, the first, in B flat major, remained unfinished for unknown reasons. Stylistically, it is reminiscent of Haydn and Mozart - its vocal writing turns it into a kind of song without words.

In addition to his two string trios and the 15 complete string quartets, Schubert only wrote a single piano quintet. Shortly after Schubert's death in 1829, the publisher Joseph Czerny announced the previously unprinted work as a "large quintet for pianoforte and strings". The composition was written at the request of the cellist Sylvester Paumgartner, whom Schubert had met in Steyr. Paumgartner wanted the special "Hummelian scoring" of the strings with violin, viola, cello and double bass. In addition to the instrumentation request, he asked Schubert for variations on the song "Die Forelle", which had long since become generally known and which Schubert had composed in 1816/1817. It earned the quintet the nickname "Trout Quintet".