SPONSORED: Ensemble. A Great Start - Freddie Meyers' new opera A Sketch of Slow Time impresses Alice McVeigh.
All sponsored features >>
WORD SEARCH: Can you solve Allan Rae's classical music word search puzzles? We're currently publishing one per month.
VIDEO PODCAST: John Dante Prevedini leads a discussion about The Creative Spark, including contributions from Ryan Ash, Sean Neukom, Adrian Rumson, Stephen Francis Vasta, David Arditti, Halida Dinova and Andrew Arceci.
Franz Schubert's Octet in F, D 803, written in March 1824, is the composer's largest scale chamber work. Scored for clarinet, bassoon, horn, two violins, viola, cello and double bass, it was commissioned by the amateur Austrian clarinettist Ferdinand Troyer, who requested a work similar to Beethoven's Septet. The Octet has six movements, the average performance time is one hour, and it was first performed in public in Vienna on 16 April 1827.
Ensemble. Schubert's Octet and the Spirit of Vienna - Giuseppe Pennisi reports from the final concert of a Schubert festival in Rome
CD Spotlight. True to the Composer's Original Intentions - Schubert's Octet, heard by Geoff Pearce. '... the sound is detailed and crisp, and the balance is good.'
Ensemble. Full Rein - Sinfonia Viva at the Buxton Festival, heard by Mike Wheeler