PROGRAMME
Beethoven – String Quintet in E flat major Op.4 [1795]
Brahms – String Sextet in G major Op.36 [1865]

SUMMARY
The Vanbrugh and their guests present two fine and highly contrasted works from the extended chamber music repertoire. Beethoven’s early string quintet Op.4 is his own re-working of his wind octet written in Vienna in 1793 where there was great demand for light-hearted wind band music. The arrangement for strings offers an attractive and elegant lightness of touch. In contrast, Brahms’ extraordinary G major sextet is the work of a composer at the peak of his powers, its mood ranging from the restrained beauty of the opening bars to the boisterous party music in the scherzo and the relaxed playfulness of the finale. The 32-year-old composer wrote it in idyllic surroundings near Baden-Baden, Germany and it was premiered in Boston, Massachusetts in 1866.