Mozart: String Quartets, Vol. V Armida Quartett

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): String Quartet No. 11 in E-Flat Major, K. 171:
• 1Mozart: String Quartet No. 11 in E-Flat Major, K. 171: I. Adagio05:03
• 2Mozart: String Quartet No. 11 in E-Flat Major, K. 171: II. Menuetto03:26
• 3Mozart: String Quartet No. 11 in E-Flat Major, K. 171: III. Andante03:22
• 4Mozart: String Quartet No. 11 in E-Flat Major, K. 171: IV. Allegro assai02:36
• String Quartet No. 13 in D Minor, K. 173:
• 5Mozart: String Quartet No. 13 in D Minor, K. 173: I. Allegro ma molto moderato04:54
• 6Mozart: String Quartet No. 13 in D Minor, K. 173: II. Andante grazioso02:54
• 7Mozart: String Quartet No. 13 in D Minor, K. 173: III. Menuetto04:41
• 8Mozart: String Quartet No. 13 in D Minor, K. 173: IV. Allegro moderato03:41
• String Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K. 421:
• 9Mozart: String Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K. 421: I. Allegro moderato07:54
• 10Mozart: String Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K. 421: II. Andante05:54
• 11Mozart: String Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K. 421: III. Menuetto. Allegretto04:17
• 12Mozart: String Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K. 421: IV. Allegro ma non troppo – Più allegro08:57
• String Quartet No. 3 in G Major, K. 156:
• 13Mozart: String Quartet No. 3 in G Major, K. 156: I. Presto02:32
• 14Mozart: String Quartet No. 3 in G Major, K. 156: II. Adagio05:14
• 15Mozart: String Quartet No. 3 in G Major, K. 156: III. Tempo di Menuetto03:59
• String Quartet No. 5 in F Major, K. 158:
• 16Mozart: String Quartet No. 5 in F Major, K. 158: I. Allegro03:48
• 17Mozart: String Quartet No. 5 in F Major, K. 158: II. Andante – un poco Allegretto04:19
• 18Mozart: String Quartet No. 5 in F Major, K. 158: III. Tempo di Menuetto05:48
• String Quartet No. 10 in C Major, K. 170:
• 19Mozart: String Quartet No. 10 in C Major, K. 170: I. Andante04:32
• 20Mozart: String Quartet No. 10 in C Major, K. 170: II. Menuetto – Trio03:03
• 21Mozart: String Quartet No. 10 in C Major, K. 170: III. Un poco Adagio03:52
• 22Mozart: String Quartet No. 10 in C Major, K. 170: IV. Rondeaux. Allegro02:24
• String Quartet No. 16 in E-Flat Major, K. 428:
• 23Mozart: String Quartet No. 16 in E-Flat Major, K. 428: I. Allegro non troppo07:20
• 24Mozart: String Quartet No. 16 in E-Flat Major, K. 428: II. Andante con moto08:35
• 25Mozart: String Quartet No. 16 in E-Flat Major, K. 428: III. Menuetto. Allegretto07:24
• 26Mozart: String Quartet No. 16 in E-Flat Major, K. 428: IV. Allegro vivace05:35
• Total Runtime02:06:04

Info for Mozart: String Quartets, Vol. V

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. Still, by observing his son’s state of “boredom,” Leopold was indeed noting that Wolfgang was involved in a personal moment of forced leisure. Sitting at the table in the inn, he was processing and digesting the myriad of cultural, social, and musical impressions he had gathered in his travels, creating music that he could soon try out with friends or colleagues, or that might be performed at an upcoming reception in high society.

Apparently it was not even worth mentioning that Leopold never managed to sell these string quartets to a publisher. Could Wolfgang have written this music on his own initiative and for its own sake, without the rigorous control he would otherwise have imposed on works intended for practical purposes? 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 Booklettext by Hansjörg Ewert…….)

Armida Quartett

Armida Quartett
Since its spectacular success at the ARD International Competition in 2012, at which the Armida Quartet received first prize, the audience prize and six other special awards, the career of the young Berlin string quartet has developed sensationally. The quartet has been nominated by the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg as one of the Rising Stars of the European Concert Hall Organisation for the 2016/2017 season.

The Armida Quartet has also made its debut at such renowned summer festivals as the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Davos Festival and the Heidelberg Spring Music Festival. In September 2014 the quartet was invited to join the BBC’s distinguished New Generation Artists series, which offers the ensemble the opportunity to appear in various concerts and broadcasts for two years.

Founded in Berlin in 2006, the quartet took its name from an opera by Haydn, the “father of the string quartet”. The ensemble studied with members of the Artemis Quartet, also drawing musical inspiration from Natalia Prischepenko, Alfred Brendel, Tabea Zimmermann, Eberhard Feltz and Walter Levin. The quartet has participated in master classes with the Alban Berg, Guarneri and Arditti Quartets and currently works with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) and Reinhard Goebel.

The Armida Quartet won first prize at the Geneva Competition in 2011 and received several scholarships, including those of the Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation and the Schierse Foundation in Berlin. The young ensemble’s debut CD, featuring works by Béla Bartók, György Ligeti and György Kurtág, was released in 2013 and selected by the German Record Critics’ Award for its critics’ choice list.

During the current season the quartet appears for the first time in Norway, China, Taiwan and Singapore, also presenting concerts in Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg, Bonn, Antwerp and Geneva.

Frequent collaboration with other artists is a priority for the Armida Quartet – the ensemble has worked with Anna Prohaska, Thomas Hampson, Ewa Kupiec, Max Hornung and Tabea Zimmermann. The four young musicians of the Armida Quartet have taught chamber music at the Berlin University of the Arts since October 2012.

Booklet for Mozart: String Quartets, Vol. V