Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847): String Symphony in D major, MWV No. 2
Friedrich Wilhelm KALKBRENNER (1785–1849): Sextet in G major, Op. 58
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Johannes BRAHMS (1833–1897): Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34

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Friedrich Wilhelm Kalkbrenner (1785 to 1849) is little known today, yet the German composer, piano virtuoso and teacher was highly esteemed in his time: a Viennese associate of Haydn, Beethoven and Hummel, a pupil of Salieri, admired by Chopin, and a lifelong teacher in London and Paris of his own pianistic method. His four-movement Piano Sextet is reminiscent above all of Franz Schubert; although Kalkbrenner styled himself “the last classicist”, the work conveys the spirit of Romanticism. The piano takes centre stage, while the accompanying string quintet at times colours the texture orchestrally, and the Sextet is a significant and rewarding work to discover.
Preceding it is one of Felix Mendelssohn’s thirteen string symphonies, the three-movement work in D major, written at the age of 12 to 14 in classical style, though the rhythmic displacements of its 6/8 finale already anticipate the composer’s maturity. The second half of the concert features perhaps Johannes Brahms’s best-known piano chamber work, the Piano Quintet in F minor (1864), in which the piano again plays a central role, although Brahms originally conceived the piece for string quintet.
The works are presented by Ensemble Variabile, whose aim is to cultivate chamber music performance informed by historical practice.