Schubert: Quintet and Lieder

Presenting Schubert’s final chamber work (and only string quintet) alongside the composer’s lieder, including the “Der Tod und das Mädchen” (“Death and the Maiden”), was an unique decision, but one that has paid off in full. The works illuminate each other, the song pointing up Schubert’s capacity for writing stirring, elegant melodies and evoking both the celestial and the melancholy through his text painting, which is amplified through Matthias Goerne’s impassioned performance; the ensemble’s interpretation of the quintet is dignified and united, from its ethereal textures to its exhilarating progressions.