Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No 14 Death and the Maiden is perhaps one of the cornerstones of the chamber repertoire... at a time just before Schubert’s death to say that his voice in this work is deeply powerful and poignant is quite an understatement.
This string quartet is one work that has a selection of great performances available and this one from Quatuor Arod is up with the best for me.
Raw and full of anger this is not young Schubert going to death without resistance. It explodes and is fierce but then there is grace and grief. I love this version, it has the Pavel Haas Quartet’s fire and it has the soul.
To say that the strings are delivered fully to scale, deeply alive and richly visceral through my new horn’s 8 x 15 inch woofers is also a bit of an understatement lol