On this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” we’ll have a single work – but what a work it is! Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C major (D. 956, Op. posth. 163) sits at the very pinnacle of the composer’s mountain of masterpieces – which is to say, it is among the greatest pieces of chamber music ever written.

Schubert wrote at least 15 string quartets. Here he doubles his cellos (a break from Mozart and Beethoven, who preferred to double their violas), enriching the ensemble’s lower register. The quintet’s emotional terrain is as comprehensive and kaleidoscopic as the ever-shifting autumnal skies.

Though the work was completed in 1828, two months before Schubert’s death, its first public performance did not take place until 1850 – 22 years later.

We’ll hear a recording made in conjunction with the 1986 Marlboro Music Festival, featuring Pamela Frank and Felix Galimir, violins; Steven Tenenbom, viola; and Peter Wiley and Julia Lichten, cellos.

I hope you’ll join me for this, the quintessence of quintets, on “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

Always refreshing: orange Schubert