Glazunov’s string quintet has the same instrumentation as Schubert’s famous string quintet: he adds a second cello to the traditional string quartet. This gives the music a particularly rich and sonorous character. And just as with Schubert, two cellos give the composer great flexibility: he can use both instruments to carry the melody, play an accompanying role, fill in the middle harmonies or play a bass line. All these possibilities are exploited to the full in this beautiful, lyrical work. A rich and romantic work that only in the last movement draws on the typical stirring rhythms of Russian dance music.

In Igor Stravinsky’s short, moving Chanson russe, the violin is muted by a sourdine: this special timbre contributes to the vulnerability and tenderness of the lyrical outpouring, as if one would prefer not to express one’s most intimate feelings aloud. Beautiful!

Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok is a chamber music cycle for soprano, violin, cello and piano. The work was composed in just three days in 1967, following a burst of creative energy; it is a highly personal, intimate meditation on love, loss and the power of art. Uniquely, not all seven songs are performed by the entire ensemble. They alternate in all possible combinations: the soprano with each instrument solo, the soprano with three different duos, and finally all four performers together in the last song.

Definitely a concert to look forward to!