String Quartet in G major, D. 887, D. 887

The G major Quartet (1826) is Schubert's final and greatest string quartet and, by any measure, one of the supreme achievements of the chamber music repertoire. At over fifty minutes it is nearly twice the length of any earlier quartet, and its vast emotional scope -- from the tremolando opening that suggests both earthly trembling and celestial radiance to the exhausting finale -- seems to contain an entire lifetime. Unlike the Death and the Maiden quartet, this work resists any single programmatic interpretation; it is pure abstract music of terrifying emotional truthfulness. The technical demands are extreme, especially the sustained pianissimo tremolando passages that can last for several minutes.