Is there a more yearnful melody than the ephemeral, three-part main theme of the Adagio in Franz Schubert's fantastical String Quintet? It floats and flows peculiarly, caressed by violin and violoncello. But a completely different kind of longing also permeates this chamber concert featuring an illustrious line-up of musicians: a longing for mourning and consolation. Dmitri Shostakovich's Eighth String Quartet opens with a sombre motif of fate, represented by the musical translation of the composer's own initials: D-Es-C-H (D, E-flat, C, B). A scherzo bursting with fury, shrill dance music with manic repetitions. Self-quotations - and a knocking repeated thrice in a frozen atmosphere: the warning signal among dissidents to beware of the presence of a KGB informer. The rest is freezing and despair: composed following his visit to the still badly damaged Dresden in 1960 and officially dedicated 'to the victims of fascism and war', the work also depicts the distress of the people of the USSR and feels more topical today than ever. Finally, Giacomo Puccini's 'Crisantemi' also expresses an insatiable longing for love beyond death through its moving music, which the composer would later reuse in 'Manon Lescaut.'