SCHNITTKE Sonata for violin and chamber orchestra
SCHUBERT 5 Minuets and 6 Trios, D.89
BEETHOVEN (arr. strings) String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op.131
The ACO’s 2016 journey through the late quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven culminates with a presentation of the composer’s own favourite, String Quartet Op.131, the epitome of his later style: expansive, visceral, and utterly affecting. Wagner said that “it floats over the sorrows of the world”.
This achingly perfect magnum opus is preceded by pithy yet beguiling pieces from Schubert, and the exploratory music of Russian composer Alfred Schnittke. His Sonata for violin and chamber orchestra was admired by ACO’s friend Alex Ross in The Rest is Noise as “rhythmically wry, engaging, …and positively danceable”.
