The swan song is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death while they have been silent (or alternatively not so musical) for most of their lifetime…who would say that of Schubert and Beethoven?!

Schwanengesang (Swan Song), D 957, is a collection of 14 songs written by Franz Schubert at the end of his life and published posthumously. Schwanengesang is customarily referred to as the third of his great song-cycles, alongside Die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise. In this concert we hear the six songs on poems by Heinrich Heine, in a rare meeting between tenor and accordion!

Beethoven’s string quartet opus 130, written in 1825, in utter deafness, is characterised by an extreme range of characters and moods, written with a great inner urgency that characterised Beethoven’s music at the end of his life. The Cavatina, the magical slow movement of the powerful, six-movement string quartet was a favourite piece for Beethoven himself: ‘never has my own music made such an impression on me…even thinking about it always makes me cry’ The powerful Great Fugue, which immediately follows, radically breaks all taboos; never before in history has music sounded so extreme and modern. A visionary and deeply moving swan song of a great composer.