Schubert & Schoenberg

Dutch violinist Janine Jansen celebrates the 10th anniversary of her Utrecht-based International Chamber Music Festival by releasing a new album coupling two of the most heart-felt masterpieces of the Viennese romantic repertoire Schuberts String Quintet in C major (D. 956) and Schoenbergs string sextet Verklarte Nacht in performances recorded with close musical friends and colleagues.

Jansen describes the two works as impressive compositions from different periods, matching each other in intensity and intimacy at times even fragility of emotion.

When Jansen recently fronted this same Schubert/Schoenberg coupling in a standing-room-only concert to end her 2011/12 residency at Londons Wigmore Hall, the critics were ecstatic: The Independent called the Schoenberg flawless and the Schubert mind-blowing, while The Guardian described the Schoenberg as superbly textured ... wonderfully organic ... absolutely breathtaking and the Schubert as overwhelming ... a performance to last long years in the mind.