Music in Kilkenny Concert : Vanbrugh & Friends
PROGRAMME & PERFORMERS
Keith Pascoe – violin : Marja Gaynor – violin : Simon Aspell – viola : Ed Creedon – viola : Christopher Marwood – cello
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart String Quintet No. 6 in Eb Major, K. 614
Johannes Brahms String Quintet No. 1 in F Major, op. 88
Felix Mendelssohn String Quintet No. 2 in Bb Major, op. 87
Mozart always brings charm, elegance and wit, however harsh his circumstances, and nowhere more so than in his gorgeous E flat major string quintet, written in the last year of his short life along with the Magic Flute, the clarinet concerto and the Requiem.
Brahms wrote his F major quintet ‘in the spring of 1882’ and the resulting nickname of ‘Spring’ Quintet is perfect for this extraordinarily uplifting, fresh and joyful music.
The irrepressibly virtuosic outer movements of Mendelssohn’s B flat quintet offer great contrast to an elegantly playful scherzo and perhaps the highlight of the work, the anguished and yet profoundly beautiful Funeral March.