A Seattle Chamber Music Society team of Artistic Director James Ehnes and Tessa Lark, violins; Joan DerHovsepian, viola; and Mark Kosower and Julie Albers, cellos (apologies to Tessa, hidden by the camera angle!) launches the ethereal 2nd theme -- initially stated so mesmerizingly by the two cellos -- of the 1st movement of Schubert's String Quintet in C, D. 956. [From the SCMS -- watch the whole movement on YouTube.]
I had intended to drop the complete movement into the post a ways down, but we should be hearing it right now, right? -- Ed.
SCHUBERT: String Quintet in C, D. 956:
[19:13; our "2nd theme" clip starts c1:41] Seattle Chamber Music Society: James Ehnes and Tessa Lark, violins; Joan DerHovsepian, viola; Mark Kosower and Julie Albers, cellos. Live performance from the final event of SCMS Summer Festival 2025, in Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, Aug. 1, 2025 [Thanks for tracking down the performance date, Gemini!]
by Ken
Yes, yes, we have all kinds of projects in the works. Don't I know it! But while I try to work out the next step (of which there are about a half-dozen versionettes duking it out on my HD), I thought I would share some tantalizing free music found recently amid the avalanche in my e-mailbox: Schubert from Seattle (via the U.K.) and Mahler from Berlin.
Alas, my customary habit of shilly-shallying combined with stretchifying (the operative philosophy, as near as I can reckon it, seems to be something like: "Why keep on trying to do today what you just might be able to do tomorrow?") has caused what was meant to be a simple post not only to overflow its bounds but to run up against a hard deadline. In consequence, all we're going to attempt in this newly consecrated "Part 1" is the first half of the mandate.
As compensation of sorts, at the end of Part 1 there will be a Schubert bonus. So let's proceed with what we've already started --
(1) SCHUBERT FROM THE SEATTLE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY
