Quatuor Mosaïques

Les dictionnaires de musique du XIXe siècle signalent tous l’importance de Gross comme violoncelliste et compositeur. Il est injustement absent de ceux d’aujourd’hui. Son oeuvre de plus de 43 opus est composée principalement de musiques pour le violoncelle, de pièces pour piano, de lieder et de quatre quatuors à cordes.

Anyone who thinks that period-instrument performance means austerity and coolness should listen to this disc. Here's playing full of expressive warmth and vigour. The opening of Op 77 No 1 is done duly gracefully, but with a sturdy underlying rhythm and the Scherzo is crisp and alive. Then the first movement of the F major work is beautifully done, with many sensitive details; and the lovely second movement is ideally leisurely, so that the players have ample room for manoeuvre and the leader makes much of his opportunities for delicate playing in the filigree-like high music. The players show a real grasp of structure and illuminate the key moments with a touch more deliberation or a little additional weight of tone. These performances, clearly recorded, are competitive not merely within the protected world of 'early music' but in the bigger, 'real' world too!

Born into a long line of musicians, some of whom officiated at the court of Versailles, Boëly was first taught from the age of five by his father, a countertenor at the Sainte-Chapelle who was also a composer, teacher and author of a treatise on harmony influenced by Rameau. In 1796, he entered the Paris Conservatoire to study under Guérillot (violin) and Ladurner (piano), who introduced him to Bach, Haydn and Clementi. His formal education was of short duration, however, since he was forced to leave the conservatory in 1800. From then on, he taught himself, reading the old masters to cultivate his personal tastes and develop his style, which was out of sync with that of the audiences of his time who preferred patriotic or Italian works to his overly classicist offerings.

The Legendary Quatuor Mosaïques celebrates its 30th anniversary with a fabulous return to disc: the immense and demanding Everest of the last string quartets of Beethoven. The late string quartets are themselves exceptional: metaphysical masterpieces in which almost all of human emotion and pioneering musical concepts exist. The cycle represents a unique entity in the entire history of music. The Quatuor Mosaïques, performing on period instruments,delivers stunning and rarely equalled performances, perfectly balanced between purity, precision and a sublime harmonic richness.

A stunning version of Schubert's famous 'Death and the Maiden' String Quartet performed on period instruments by one of the leading string quartets of our time, the Quatuor Mosaïques. The 'String Quartet No.14 in D Minor', otherwise known as The Death and the Maiden, is considered one of the pillars of the chamber music repertoire. It's a work that shows Schubert struggling in a world in which he has a lost his bearings, but also yearning for heaven. It is his testament to death. This release also features one of Schubert's earlier quartets, the deeply foreboding D173 in G minor.

Mendelssohn's first two string quartets are some of the greatest - and most overlooked - music in the genre. Deeply influenced by Beethoven in their ambition and complexity, but nonetheless distinctly "Mendelssohnian" in their melodic beauty and elegance, these works have not been better served than here by the Talich Quartet. Taking somewhat slower tempi, they invest the music with great intensity and richness of sound. This is wonderful music-making, and I prefer these accounts to all the others I've heard, including recent recordings by the Mosaiques and Alban Berg.