Mozart String Quartets

Formed under the midnight sun in Lofoten in 2005, the Engegard Quartet has rapidly become one of Norway's most sought after ensembles. Completing their Mozart String Quartets recording project, this final volume features Mozart's Viennese Quartets K.168-173. Previous volumes have been very well received by the critics: "Three major key quartets in succession might seem on paper to be too much of a good thing, but listening to the Norwegian Engegard Quartet's 'Haydn' quartets is a rich, satisfying experience." The Arts Desk on LWC1219. "…..the Engegards bring an easy grace and bustling energy to the music that feels appropriate." BBC Music Magazine on LWC1349. "Elegant, understated yet sparkling playing of Mozart's 'Haydn' quartets." The Strad on LWC1219.

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.

Dissonance Quartet – the name already contains the thrill of transgression. But a dissonance, in which the parts momentarily diverge from triadic harmony, is the necessary condition to achieve an aesthetic of four-part conflict, such as was sought after in the genre of classical string quartet. Mozart’s work in C Major with the “dissonance” epithet is the highlight of a group of six quartets in which he responded to the music of his colleague Joseph Haydn and the latter’s concept of discursive thematic work in a four-part texture.