R Strauss Sextet from Capriccio | Dvoák String Quintet in E flat op. 97 | Mendelssohn Octet

Mendelssohn's Octet, composed at the age of 16, is rightly regarded as a well-nigh miraculous achievement. The familiar version, which we and nearly everyone else plays, was edited by the composer 7 years later. The scherzo, arguably his finest, was unaltered but the other movements were cut by about 100 bars in total.

Dvoák spent some time in the USA in charge of a music conservatoire. During that time, he wrote four of his best works, the ninth symphony, cello concerto and, during his 1893 holiday in Iowa where there was a Czech immigrant community, the American quartet and his gorgeous string quintet opus 97.

Richard Strauss' s radiant sextet, which opens his last opera, Capriccio, begins our programme.