The Sextet starts with cries of agony – the atmosphere is filled with chaos and turmoil. It is as if the listener had been thrown onto the surface of a hostile planet, devoid of any comprehensible life. In the second movement, vivid life forms begin to appear, at first frightening, but soon starting to take gentler forms, which eventually start to take the music closer to the key of G major. The last movement starts with a recitative, a gesture often found in late Beethoven.

There is a ...