Five and Six

Mozart and Brahms are undoubtedly two of the most famous and performed composers of the western classical music repertoire. One of the many reasons that contributes to explain their long-lasting success, is the sheer amount of pieces that they produced consistently over the years. Indeed, their fame comes not only from the world famous symphonies that they have produced, symphonies which are performed by nearly all professional classical music orchestras in the world, but also for their chamber compositions ranging far beyond the usual duos, trios or quartets that were the most commonly written at the time. Both Mozart and Brahms explored on numerous occasions the possibilities created by the inventive combination of various instruments within the mainframe of a chamber music group, with woodwind, brass, string, and sometimes mixed chamber groups with unusual combinations of instruments. Among their chamber repertoire, lies Mozart and Brahms' respective G minor quintet and G major sextet. For both these pieces, the specific size and instrumentation of the group offers unique possibilities and allows to explore new musical dimensions in a domain slightly less familiar to the ear than the one of string quartets. Listening to these new universes of sound, with their differences and similarities, created by two of the most skilled composers of western music history, highlights how the expressive power of music can sometimes be strengthened by the intimacy of a chamber music group of a specific and optimal size.