Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin: Schubert, Brahms & Dvořák im Kammerkonzert

Dancing trio and lively quintet

Once again, compositions by Johannes Brahms are the "buttons" of the chamber music idea submitted by RSB violist Elizaveta Zolotova for 2024_2025. The two very different Brahms jewels Opus 91, sung by Alice Lackner, accompanied by obbligato viola and piano, challenge us to tailor a magnificent "coat" around them. At its center shines the magnificent vocal-instrumental ballad "Der Hirt auf dem Felsen" by Franz Schubert.

The precious "hem" of musical gold brocade, however, is formed by two chamber music treasures by Antonín Dvořák, the former Brahms protégé. The ethereally bassless and stupendously virtuosic trio for two violins and viola - played sometimes floating, sometimes dancing by the RSB's two new violinists David Nebel and Oleh Kurochkin in the concertmaster/vocalist position as well as the viola player Elizaveta Zolotova - is characterized by the fact that Dvořák enjoyed working on it just as much "as if I were writing a great symphony".

The String Quintet in G major, on the other hand, almost wants to be a symphony. It lives from the presence of the bass: After all, Dvořák adds a double bass to the usual string quartet, not a second cello or a second viola, as most other composers do in their string quintets. Moreover, the work by the 33-year-old Dvořák is a brilliantly exuberant chamber music work full of rousing musical joy. Watch out! Contagious!