When Peter Simonischek reads classics of gothic romanticism, goose bumps are guaranteed. Bram Stoker's "Dracula" was not the first to play with the comforting showers of horror. The "Gespenster-Hoffmann" in Berlin of the early Romantic period could do that just as well. E. T. A. Hoffmann's "Goldner Topf" from 1814 is a gloomy ride through the "Vigilies" of a truly gruesome night. His Harp Quintet, masterfully played by the solo harpist Christoph Bielefeld from Linz and the young Pacific Quartet from Vienna, is a perfect match. A ghostly scherzo by Mendelssohn and a shadowy castle lady in harp sound round off this literary-musical witching hour. Those who are more drawn to Italy should choose the variant with Eichendorff's "Marble Picture" - more rapturous than Hoffmann, but hardly less eerie. Only shortly before midnight the epilogue of this evening ends: the 3rd String Quartet by Georg Friedrich Haas, playing in complete darkness, a homage to the night composer Gesualdo.

***

PROGRAM
Felix Mendelssohn: “Scherzo” from Quartet in F minor, op. 80
Gabriel Fauré: Une châtelaine en sa tour
E. T. A. Hoffmann: Quintet in C minor for harp and string quartet
Reading from novelettes by E. T. A. Hoffmann (“Der goldne Topf”) and Joseph von Eichendorff (“Das Marmorbild”, 07.30 pm)