What would Schubert have done if he had heard Domenico Dragonetti play? It’s perhaps not one of the world’s great musical mysteries – Dragonetti was a great virtuoso double bassist, Schubert was fond of the instrument – but this recording provides the answer: a fun new version of the C Major String Quintet, arranged for string quartet plus double bass instead of the usual extra cello. We forfeit the sweetness of the two cellos crooning their high tenor duets, but instead we get heft, and an added darkness that matches the angst beneath the work’s tuneful surface. The Finale theme gains the oomph of a bawdy tavern song and there’s a resounding kick to the Scherzo. The only place the arrangement doesn’t work is in the rapturous Adagio, where chunky pizzicato interjections keep things earthbound. The playing is terrific: tasteful phrasing, gracious ensemble intuition and a string sound that’s fibrous, luminous and poised.
theguardian.com


‘The richest and most productive eighteen months in music history’ is how the English composer Benjamin Britten described Franz Schubert’s final period, when works including the magisterial String Quintet in C major saw the light of day. For besides the quintet, Die Winterreise (Winter Journey), the Symphony in C major (‘the Great’) and the last three piano sonatas flowed from Schubert’s pen. Since Beethoven’s death in 1827, Schubert was engrossed in the development of large-scale musical forms, and certainly succeeded in this in the fifty minutes of the quintet.
An unusual version of Schubert’s celebrated String Quintet in C major has been chosen for this CD recording. Almost ten years before his String Quintet in C major, Schubert wrote the Trout Quintet, in which the double bass features prominently. His interest in the instrument is also illustrated by its important role in several of his famous works. What would Schubert have done if he had heard famed double bass virtuoso Dragonetti play? With this in mind, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta requested Marijn van Prooijen, a double bass player and arranger, to adapt the second cello part for the double bass. Rick Stotijn plays it on a small double bass with a high tuning in fourths and even a high C string, which allow room for the player to be flexible in using the different registers.
Amsterdam Sinfonietta occupies a unique position on the Dutch music scene as professional string orchestra under the leadership of Candida Thompson.
arkivmusic.com

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