Quintessenz

Interpreters

Thomas Zehetmair . Direction
Anuschka Cidlinsky . Viola
Nikolaus von Bülow . Violoncello
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester

Programme

Felix Mendelssohn
String Symphony No. 12 in G minor

Thomas Zehetmair
Double Concerto for Viola and Cello
(or alternatively: Joseph Haydn . Cello Concerto in C major)

Franz Schubert
Quintet in C major, D 956 (arr. for string orchestra)

“Mozart and Beethoven are geniuses – but Schubert! Schubert is a miracle!” (Marc Chagall)

Early works, late works… can one even make such distinctions with composers like Mendelssohn or Schubert? Neither of them lived to a ripe old age. Both had already written so much stunningly beautiful music at such a young age. In 1823, Felix Mendelssohn composed his 12th String Symphony in G minor at the age of 14, and even at that time, there was really nothing more to teach the young man. At the age of 31, Franz Schubert experienced an unparalleled creative frenzy. Did he suspect that it would be his last? The visionary Quintet in C major – conceived in 1828 for two violins, a single viola, but two cellos – emphasises the darker registers and combines monumentality with intimacy. For Schubert, it is less a nostalgic conclusion than a departure and a new beginning into something timeless and his very personal way of defying the law of finitude. The SKO and its principal conductor round off this sophisticated Mendelssohn-Schubert double bill with Zehetmair’s own Double Concerto from 2025, in which an unusual and superbly cast duo of viola and cello takes the ‘lead’.