Southwell Festival Chamber Soloists
Victoria Newlyn reader
Marcus Farnsworth baritone
Libby Burgess piano
Schubert String Quartet No 14 in D minor ‘Death and the Maiden’
This great string quartet – a worthy successor to those of Beethoven – was composed in 1824, the year Schubert realised that he was dying. It takes its name from a Schubert song depicting a dialogue between a young woman and Death; the song’s theme forms the basis for the quartet’s second movement, but bleakness and foreboding pervade the entire piece. A performance of the song will precede the quartet, whose movements will be interspersed with readings.
