The first time I heard "the" G Minor Symphony as "on-hold" music on the telephone, I thought, "Oh dear, another piece spoilt forever." You're wanting to complain to your telephone provider about your last bill and you hear this racket!
But there is a remedy. You just need to listen a little further than the clip from the on-hold music. There are so many different moods: melancholy, grief, rage, consolation. And everything is woven together with such ingenuity and originality!
It may seem strange at first to combine this with the blissful togetherness of the Sinfonia Concertante, but on reflection it makes sense. Whilst the slow movement of the G Minor Symphony (in the same key as the Sinfonia Concertante) brightens the mood of the other movements, the melancholic slow movement of the Sinfonia Concertante casts a shade over the lightness of the outer movements. It's not all difficult, nor is it all straightforward. Just like real life.
Gordan "the philosopher" Nikolić (musical director and solo violin), Richard Wolfe (solo viola) and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra take on this fragile co-existence with impeccable assurance.