Symphony No. 40 in G minor KV 550 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Symphony No. 5 in B flat major D 485 by Franz Schubert – two symphonies with a comparable four-part form, identical prescribed instrumentation and minuets that seem to be each other’s relatives in key signature and characteristics. The Apollo Ensemble did a close examination of these works to see if there is a deeper relationship than just the symphonic form and character of the minuets. Looking back on this process, violinist and artistic leader of Apollo Ensemble, David Rabinovich, was “glad we did that research, because we found out that these symphonies are practically each other’s brothers. It was intriguing to discover how Schubert read Mozart’s score with his musical genius and then put it to work in his own Fifth Symphony. In some passages you can see how Schubert sometimes quotes Mozart measure by measure and that a new musical edifice forms around that quote. [...] The beginning of Schubert’s Fifth Symphony. Those chords for the horns. Suddenly I saw that this is exactly what Mozart was trying to do when reintroducing the theme in the first movement of his symphony. And how about Schubert’s string theme, which seems to flow directly from Mozart’s opening.”

After the research, the performance followed which can be heard on the CD at hand. The Apollo Ensemble is a large chamber music ensemble. For Rabinovich, the difference between playing Schubert’s Octet and his Fifth Symphony is very small. The musicians don’t try to play as a large instrument group, or to melt together into a section sound – they really approach these symphonies as chamber music pieces. Therefore, the balance between strings and winds is completely different and new which allows insights into this music which hardly can be recognized when it is played by a large orchestra. So we get a very interesting new sound without any changed note in the score.