Mozart Prissian Quartets

Having concluded its Haydn cycle, the Doric String Quartet plunges into Mozart, beginning late in the composer's career with the three so-called "Prussian" string quartets. These are noted for having been written at the behest of a cello-playing nobleman, for whom Mozart wrote especially elaborate cello parts. Those are placed in the service of dense contrapuntal webs that pose unusual challenges for the performers. Should these quartets be severe? Light-hearted? There is quite a range, probably more than for the other Mozart quartets.

This may well be the most fantastic recording I’ve ever heard of Mozart’s two piano quartets, and coming from someone who prefers his Mozart on modern instruments and has railed regularly against period instruments in music of this vintage, this is beyond high praise; it borders on glorification. Both the Quatuor Festetics, which began as a Read more Sturm und Drang of the G-Minor Quartet’s resolute and deeply tragic first movement. The instrument, of course, postdates though not by much the year in which the piece was written.

Curzon record is of high quality, and it is good to have this example of his superlative artistry in the music of Mozart, a composer who was particularly close to his heart. Indeed, Curzon's stylistic perfection in Mozart was formed at a time when this composer was often much less well served than he is now. Curzon and the Amadeus Quartet were old friends, and in these versions there is clearly a close rapport between all four players, though [Norbert] Brainin's distinctive, slowish, wide vibrato was already very noticeable in September 1952, when the recordings were made, and seems out of style in Mozart. In every other respect these are superlative, beautifully poised performances.

This recording is over 20 years old, so it's hard to believe that it hasn't been reviewed yet. Domus is long gone, and its members have morphed into the Florestan Trio, but it was a great group, and by the time they recorded these Mozart pieces, they had been together for a dozen years. The music is mature Mozart, roughly contemporaneous with "Le Nozze di Figaro" (1785), and it's superbly played and recorded here.

The four Mozart flute quartets make up a nicely tidy CD, and the Nash Ensemble's neat and pointed playing make it an enjoyable one too. Philippa Davies is a pleasure to listen to, clean and unusually even in tone, a tone which is round and full but not in the least watery; lively and rhythmic in her articulation. And the string players give firm, indeed sturdy support.

Bei Dabringhaus und Grimm kamen jetzt auch die Flötenquartette von Mozart heraus, und zwar in einer Aufnahme, die der historischen Aufführungspraxis folgt. Konrad Hünteler hat sich mit dem Geiger Rainer Kußmaul, dem Bratschisten Jürgen Kußmaul und dem Cellisten Roel Dieltiens zusammengesetzt, und da spitzt man die Ohren. Denn erst vor einigen Wochen hat Emanuel Pahud, der Soloflötist der Berliner Philharmoniker, eben diese Quartette in einer phänomenalen Neueinspielung vorgelegt. Diesmal sitzt also sein einstiger Konzertmeister Rainer Kußmaul sozusagen im anderen Boot, und tatsächlich wird diese Aufnahme in ganz anderer Weise von der Violine geprägt als die Pahud-CD.

Finnish flute virtuoso Sami Junnonen joins the celebrated ensemble Chamber Domaine for a new recording of the complete Flute Quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Junnonen is joined by Thomas Kemp (violin), Robert Smissen (viola) and Richard Harwood (cello). These four quartets, much admired as key works of this genre of the Classical era, see Chamber Domaine exploring new and broader musical avenues as the group looks to this earlier repertoire with stunning effect.