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classical
August 2009 
Moving strings
Posted on Oct 22nd, 2008
by 
Annemieke
Annemieke
Another really beautiful piece of Schubert is the adagio of his string quintet. It must be the two cello's that I find so moving I guess.
From Wiki: "It stands out for its somewhat unconventional instrumentation, employing two cellos instead of the customary two violas. Most other string quintets follow the example of Mozart and call for an ensemble consisting of the four standard instruments of the string quartet (two violins, viola, and cello), plus a second viola. Schubert decided to replace the second viola with an additional cello, thereby enhancing the richness of the quintet texture's lower register".
Schubert, String Quintet in C-Dur_ Adagio
Access: Public
I don't know much about classical music so I won't pretend to, but what I loved about this piece was how it came in with a high passion right from the start like a well lit fire, and then at one point it slowed right down like a fire on the verge of burning out completely before slowly rebuilding it's a passion and flame back to full life. I especially liked the long pauses during the dying and rebuilding phases. It made me really stop and refocus on everything, which may have been what schubert was intending, but how should I know, I do know that for me it had that effect. Sadly, about five minutes in the clip started hesitating and stopping, may have been my computer. Who is truly to say. Thank-you I've seen a few operas and have a bit of classical music in collection but this renews my energy to get some more and really dig into this area of music. Hugs Michael. Excellent stuff and my first listen to schubert. Was very impressed.
I love that you share these here. I adore strings. Thank you.
Thank you Jessica and Michael for your comments. Yes, don't you just love Schubert. It is beyond me how someone could write such amazing music.
“dying and rebuilding phases”
I liked that description a lot. Listening to this music makes me wonder why I love it so much. For me, I think, it is said with the Dutch word ‘meeslepend'. I could not find an exact English translation for it, but it is something like ‘it takes you with it'.
But I quess that is what strings do, there seem to be no seperate notes, it is like one ongoing movement.