Quintet for strings in C, Op. 163 played by the Blech Quartet and James Phillips (2nd cello)
The Quintet in C, Op 163. must have been one of the last works Schubert wrote, for it belongs to the year in which he died, 1828, when he was only thirty-one. The inclusion of two cellos among the five instruments gives great richness and solidity of tone, and the management of the dialogue between all- five instruments is a delight in itself. The themes are sometimes closely and seriously argued ; at other times the discussion is quick, gay, and bantering.
It is in four movements. The slow movement is surely one of the two or three loveliest movements in all Schubert's music. The scherzo has been nicknamed ' The Hunt'.