String Quartets, K. 421, K. 428, K. 465 by Engegård Quartet

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Engegård Quartet

String Quartets, K. 421, K. 428, K. 465

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Lawo Classics
UPC: 7090020181899
Catnr: LWC 1167
Release date: 01 March 2019
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Label
Lawo Classics

UPC
7090020181899

Catalogue number
LWC 1167

Release date
01 March 2019

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

On this recording, the Engegård Quartet present three of Mozart's six string quartets dedicated to Haydn, the so-called “Haydn” Quartets.

The six “Haydn” Quartets were written between 1782-85, while Mozart enjoys great popularity in Vienna. Mozart had written a series of quartets in his youth, but it had been almost ten years since he wrote the last one. With the “Haydn” Quartets he makes quite different demands on himself, the musicians, and the audience. The structure is not so surprising — here we find fast first movements in what is today called sonata-allegro form, singable slow movements, minuets with trios, and often finale-rondos. But what he fills them with woke Haydn’s admiration and now awakens ours. Haydn’s admiration for his colleague 24 years his junior (Mozart lived from 1756 to 1791) was expressed through the following words aimed at Mozart’s father Leopold, himself also a capable composer: “I tell you by God as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer I know in person or by name; he has taste and furthermore the greatest compositional knowledge.” Haydn supposedly uttered this after having heard three of the quartets at a house concert at Mozart’s residence, where both Wolfgang and Leopold most likely contributed.

Artist(s)

Engegård Quartet

Arvid Engegård – violin Alex Robson – violin Juliet Jopling – viola Jan Clemens Carlsen – cello Formed under the midnight sun in Lofoten in 2006, the Engegård Quartet has rapidly become one of Norway’s most sought after ensembles. Their bold, fresh interpretations of the classical repertoire combined with a deep attachment to their Scandinavian roots has attracted international acclaim, and inspired some innovative partnerships and programming. The quartet’s debut CD was praised as ‘breathtaking’ in The Strad, while their second release won Pizzicato magazine’s ‘Supersonic Award’. Their CD of works by Grieg, Sibelius, and Olav Anton Thommessen was praised by Tully Potter in Music Web International as ‘what Grieg lovers have been waiting for’. The Engegård Quartet has a busy concert schedule throughout Scandinavia...

Arvid Engegård – violin Alex Robson – violin Juliet Jopling – viola Jan Clemens Carlsen – cello Formed under the midnight sun in Lofoten in 2006, the Engegård Quartet has rapidly become one of Norway’s most sought after ensembles. Their bold, fresh interpretations of the classical repertoire combined with a deep attachment to their Scandinavian roots has attracted international acclaim, and inspired some innovative partnerships and programming. The quartet’s debut CD was praised as ‘breathtaking’ in The Strad, while their second release won Pizzicato magazine’s ‘Supersonic Award’. Their CD of works by Grieg, Sibelius, and Olav Anton Thommessen was praised by Tully Potter in Music Web International as ‘what Grieg lovers have been waiting for’.
The Engegård Quartet has a busy concert schedule throughout Scandinavia and further afield. They have performed in some of Europe’s finest venues including the Mozarteum in Salzburg and Prague’s Rudolfinum, as well as performing in South America with concerts in Bogotá and Sao Paolo. Festival performances include the Delft Chamber Music Festival, SoNoRo Festival in Bucharest, and Heidelberg’s Streichquartettfest. Members of the quartet are also deeply involved in bringing superb chamber music to Norway – Arvid Engegård as founder of the Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival, and Juliet Jopling as artistic director of the Oslo Quartet Series.
The Engegård Quartet has had the honour to work with (among others) András Schiff, Leif Ove Andsnes, Christian Ihle Hadland, and Emma Johnson. They also love to collaborate with colleagues from different musical traditions, including a folk/classical fusion with Hardanger fiddler Nils Økland, a collaboration with jazz violinist Ola Kvernberg, and a programme of Ibsen and late Beethoven with actor Bjørn Sundquist. The Engegård Quartet’s own ‘1-2-3 mini-festival’ has proven immensely popular and is now a regular event each year, providing a feast of chamber music, song, piano works, and lectures.

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Composer(s)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose actual name is Joannes Chrysotomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a composer, pianist, violinist and conductor from the classical period, born in Salzburg. Mozart was a child prodigy. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart is considered to be one of the most influential composers of all of music's history. Within the classical tradition, he was able to develop new musical concepts which left an everlasting impression on all the composers that came after him. Together with Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven he is part of the First Viennese School. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. From 1763 he traveled with his family through all of Europe for three years and from 1769 he traveled to Italy and France with his father Leopold after which he took residence in Paris. On July 3rd, 1778, his mother passed away and after a short stay in Munich with the Weber family, his father urged him to return to Salzburg, where he was once again hired by the Bishop. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death.

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