Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – String Quartets No.16 & 18
Recorded at the Sashalon Reformed Church, Budapest from 4th to 8th January, 1991.
About these works:
The String Quartet No. 16 in E flat major, K. 428/421b, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This is the third of the Haydn Quartets, a set of six string quartets he wrote during his first few years in Vienna in honor of the composer Joseph Haydn. It is in four movements, with the Minuet third:
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Andante con moto
III. Menuetto & Trio
IV. Allegro vivace
The first movement is highly chromatic, with the chromaticized bridge theme in the exposition being one of several examples, the end of the exposition being another. The slow movement invokes the slow movement of Haydn’s Op. 20 no. 1. The ostentatious dissonances of its opening almost have an antique flavour, caused by the collision of semitonal ascents and descents, and this strongly suggests the opening subject of the first movement, so surprisingly isolated there.” Other commentators hear it as pointing forward to Johannes Brahms.
The String Quartet No. 18 in A major K. 464, the fifth of the Quartets dedicated to Haydn, was completed in 1785[1] Mozart’s autograph catalogue states as the date of composition “1785. / the 10th January”. It is in four movements:
1. Allegro
2. Menuetto and Trio
3. Andante
4. Allegro non troppo
The whole piece is characterized by the use of several different contrapuntal devices. In England”this quartet is known as the Drum because the cello part in variation six [of the Andante] maintains a staccato drum-like motion.” This quartet was the model for Beethoven’s String Quartet in A major, Opus 18 No. 5. Throughout the third movement Mozart “makes use of a pedal point in the bass, thus giving the music an entrancing rustic effect.” The last movement “can best be described as being an abridged rondo form.
The Players:
Éder Quartet
Pál Éder: violin
Erika Tóth: violin
Zóltan Tóth: viola
György Éder: cello
Track List:
1. String Quartet No.18 – Allegro (7:28)
2. String Quartet No.18 – Menuetto (6:39)
3. String Quartet No.18 – Andante (13:10)
4. String Quartet No.18 – Allegro (6:27)
5. String Quartet No.16 – Allegro (7:11)
6. String Quartet No.16 – Andante con molo (9:04)
7. String Quartet No.16 – Menuetto, Allegro (6:14)
8. String Quartet No.16 – Allegro vivace (5:28)
Stereo, DDD, mp3, 320 kbps, 151,86 Mb, 60:47 minutes. Covers & info included
