The string sextet is an unusual combination of instruments and there aren’t that many works for it.  But one, Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4, has almost cult status and is performed fairly often.  It does though need a companion to make up a concert programme.  On Friday night at Toronto Summer Music in Walter Hall the chosen accompanying piece was Brahms’ Sextet No.2 in G Major, Op. 36.

The Brahms is a fairly complex, well crafted piece, full of invention and quite varied in mood.  Having said all that I find it really hard to engage with it emotionally and find myself admiring rather than loving it; even when performed as beautifully as the version we got from Andrew Wan and Jonathan Crow (violins), Eric Nowlin and Sharon Wei (violas) and Brian Manker and Peter Stumpf (cellos).

The Schoenberg does move me though.  It;s very early and the influences of Brahms and Wagner are obvious but there’s also this sense that he is looking to find a way beyond the musical language at his disposal (while Brahms always seems happy to refine the accepted language of the day).  It’s also that the music is more overtly emotional; perhaps because programmatic rather than in abstract sonata form.

It’s riffing off a symbolist poem by Richard dehmel about a man and a woman taking a moon lit walk.  She confesses that she is pregnant by someone else but both accept this and refuse to let it get in the way of their relationship.  It’s interesting to think about what scandalised fin de siecle Vienna more; a story based on premarital sex or Schoenberg’s mildly radical use of non-standard tonality.

In any event the Schoenberg got a committed and excellent performance and a rapturous audience reception.

Photo credit: Lucky Tang.