25. August 2022
A race once morest the rainy hours, it was only at 4 p.m. that the green light was given for the eighth and penultimate serenade of this summer in the arcaded courtyard of the Linz country house, which was performed by the Ensemble Aktuell. Eight accomplished orchestral musicians under the proven leadership of Sabine Reiter came together to form a homogeneous ensemble to play works by Anton Reicha and Robert Schumann.
A program suitable for serenades, which also goes well with the introduction with the clarinet quintet in B flat major op. 89 by Schubert’s contemporary Reicha, whose valuable chamber music works were more widely recognized during his lifetime. Admittedly, Schubert then came more into focus with his famous octet for five strings and three wind instruments and also set the creative highlights of the serenade. The fragrant sound determines its character, the colorful instrumentation, the carefree intonation of the melodies, the six-movement scope, all ingenious contents that go beyond the scope of chamber music but led the “songwriter” to symphonic formation.
This was preceded by works with wind instruments in smaller pieces by Schubert from 1813, trend-setting, but without showing the inventiveness and sonority of the famous octet. The ensemble performed at the highest level, with Schubert in particular showing special attention to the different treatment of themes and the motivic unity and compositional density in the leitmotifs of dotted rhythms became effective throughout the work. It rained a lot of applause from the ranks of an audience that appreciates the tradition of the serenade concerts that have existed for 68 years and therefore filled the arcaded courtyard rows with plenty. G. Szeless
