Primavera

Beethoven Duet with two obligato eyeglasses WoO.32 Arensky Quartet in A minor for violin, viola, and 2 cellos Op.35 Schubert String Quintet in C Visited by Queen Elizabeth 1 in 1559 and Charles 1 with his new bride Henrietta Maria in 1625 on their honeymoon, the Gilt Hall is a truly regal venue for our concert. In jest, Beethoven added to the duo title, ‘with eyeglass obligato’ ribbing the myopic musicians to whom the duo was written - Beethoven himself on viola and Baron Nikolaus Zmeskall von Domanowecz, a talented amateur cellist. Arensky’s rather unusual scoring of a string quartet employing two cellos is instrumentally the perfect bed partner to the Schubert Quintet, that quintessential desert island disk.  Arensky decorates the Russian carol  ‘crown of thorns’ as the basis for an alluring and virtuoso set of variations within the work. Interval drinks are included in the ticket price