Beethoven and Brahms - intimately

Beethoven’s and Brahms’ quintets are two different worlds – what impressions will their juxtaposition bring us? The Quintet in C minor, Op. 104, written in 1817, an arrangement of an earlier piano trio, appears today as one of the pieces marking the beginning of the final phase of Beethoven’s work – the most personal in expression and intellectually profound, with a tendency towards numerous innovations. The following year, Beethoven completely lost his hearing but did not cease his intense work. His composing was often interrupted by the care of his nephew, which brought even more worries. What a contrast with the other piece!

Beethoven's String Quintet in C minor, Op. 104, interpreted by the chamber musicians of the WDR Symphony Orchestra:

Brahms’ quintet, a composition from 1890, is also a work from a significant moment in the composer’s life. Brahms thought of it as his last piece. However, it was not a nostalgic farewell, and friends remarked that its character was more reminiscent of joyful walks in Vienna’s Prater Park. I have achieved enough, Brahms was said to have remarked after the premiere.