The Budapest Strings Chamber Orchestra & Kristóf Baráti

The String Quartet in D minor by Schubert is one of the greatest creations in the quartet canon. Its scale, concept and weight of message certainly make it worthy for performance in the greatest concert halls, which is why it must be performed there, or so Mahler believed, when he wrote the arrangement for string orchestra and 70 years after the original composition was completed, he directed the work in person at a concert in Hamburg in 1894. While the work belongs to the core repertoire of string quartets, most string orchestras also keep it on their programme today, assuming they have the virtuosity and complex expressive power of a quartet. “Beethoven’s violin concerto could barely be played better and in a more attractive way,” a critic wrote about the performance of Kristóf Baráti. Recently, the violinist undertakes not ‘only’ the role of soloist but that of conductor, too, thus he can exercise a hypnotic influence with his bow not only over the orchestra but us as well.