Release Date: 05 August 2022
Label: C-Avi
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 4260085534968
Genres: Classical Chamber Music
Description
The Armida Quartett presents the final volume in their survey of the complete works for string quartet by W A Mozart. The album again has been recorded in close cooperation with the famous Henle publisher.
Boredom (in German: "long whiling") is apparently what drove Wolfgang to compose one of his string quartets at the inn at Bolzano. And yes, he was doing well, as father Leopold assured Mozart's mother in a letter dated 28 October 1772. How can we even imagine what boredom must have felt like for a 16-year-old genius? Was he sitting lackadaisically at the table with his father, scribbling counterpoint on paper and casually inventing the genre of Classical string quartet in passing? Or was Wolfgang just solving musical-logical Sudokus, as we all tend to do in such cases? At any rate, it would be too Romantic to imagine that Mozart was writing an emotional diary with these string quartets, a sort of journal intime of his Italian journey.
Strangely enough, the genesis of most of Mozart's string quartets is associated with his travels. The first authentic quartet and the first group of six were all written in Italy; the second set emerged in the context of a trip to Vienna; finally, the late, "Prussian" quartets are associated the last journey in Mozart's life.
In the midst of these, the six "Classical" quartets show the manner in which Mozart chose to position himself in Vienna – also in relation to Joseph Haydn, who, in Vienna and elsewhere, was regarded as the undisputed master of the string quartet genre. If we remain open to this idea of "whiling away the hours," we can perceive the result of Mozart's boredom in the meter and rhythm proportions of the Italian quartets. The music tends to jump with incredible speed from one idea to the next. (from the Booklet text by Hansjörg Ewert)
"The Armida Quartett, who emerged as BBC New Generation Artists in 2014, play modern instruments but minimise vibrato while maximising dynamic contrasts…intonation, choice of tempos and care for nuance are all that they should be." – BBC Music Magazine, Performance 4 STARS, Recording 4 STARS
"A conclusion to a cycle well worth revisiting." – Gramophone
Tracklisting
Andreas Willwohl & Daniel Heide
Laurence Kilsby & Ella O'Neill
Kilian Herold, Barbara Buntrock, Florian Donderer, Tanja Tetzlaff
Kathrin Zukowski, KammerMusikKoln
Katharina Konradi, Catriona Morison, Ammiel Bushakevitz
Antje Weithaas, Denes Varjon
Premysl Vojta, Florence Millet, Ye Wu
Herbert Schuch, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne
Armida Quartet
