Chamber Music Concert

In 1860, Russian composer Aleksander Borodin was still studying to be a chemist when he started writing his String sextet, comprising two movements: a lively Allegro in which, as is often remarked, Borodin seems to be taking Mendelssohn on at his own game, and a pleasant Andante. Typically tuneful and rather Germanic, it ties in beautifully with Mozart’s String sextet after the Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364. While the Austrian composer wrote the Sinfonia, his only complete surviving work in this genre, on his return from Paris and Mannheim in 1779, a “Grande Sestetto Concertante” after the Sinfonia by an unknown arranger was published by Sigmund Anton Steiner in 1808, with all six parts divided equally among the six players, and not presented as soloists with accompaniment: a fine example of musicianship and virtuosity.

A. BORODIN: String sextet in D minor (unfinished)
W. A. MOZART: String sextet after the Sinfonia Concertante K. 364 (arr.: unknown)

Ayșe Karaoǧlan, Anna Wrobel (violins)
Ewa Bartmann, Krzysztof Wrobel (violas)
Miranda Papaneocleous, Stavros Petropoulos (cellos)

Ticket prices: €5, €3 (children under 12)