Mozart: String Quartets, Vol. III Armida Quartett

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, K. 375:
• 1 String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, K. 375: I. Allegro vivace assai 07:49
• 2 String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, K. 375: II. Menuetto. Allegro – Trio 08:00
• 3 String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, K. 375: III. Andante cantabile 06:26
• 4 String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, K. 375: IV. Molto Allegro 05:49
• String Quartett No. 23 in F Major, K. 590:
• 5 String Quartett No. 23 in F Major, K. 590: I. Allegro moderato 08:36
• 6 String Quartett No. 23 in F Major, K. 590: II. Allegretto 07:17
• 7 String Quartett No. 23 in F Major, K. 590: III. Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio 04:35
• 8 String Quartett No. 23 in F Major, K. 590: IV. Allegro 06:41
• String Quartet No. 2 in D Major, K. 155:
• 9 String Quartet No. 2 in D Major, K. 155: I. Allegro 03:17
• 10 String Quartet No. 2 in D Major, K. 155: II. Andante 03:29
• 11 String Quartet No. 2 in D Major, K. 155: III. Molto Allegro 01:26
• String Quartet No. 8 in F Major, K. 168:
• 12 String Quartet No. 8 in F Major, K. 168: I. Allegro 04:37
• 13 String Quartet No. 8 in F Major, K. 168: II. Andante 03:45
• 14 String Quartet No. 8 in F Major, K. 168: III. Menuetto – Trio 03:14
• 15 String Quartet No. 8 in F Major, K. 168: IV. Allegro 01:54
• tring Quartet No. 12 in B-Flat Major, K. 172:
• 16 String Quartet No. 12 in B-Flat Major, K. 172: I. Allegro spiritoso 04:00
• 17 String Quartet No. 12 in B-Flat Major, K. 172: II. Adagio 04:31
• 18 String Quartet No. 12 in B-Flat Major, K. 172: III. Menuetto – Trio 03:45
• 19 String Quartet No. 12 in B-Flat Major, K. 172: IV. Allegro assai 03:42
• String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575:
• 20 String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575: I. Allegretto 07:19
• 21 String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575: II. Andante 03:48
• 22 String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575: III. Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio 05:28
• 23 String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575: IV. Allegretto 06:02
• Total Runtime 01:55:30

Info for Mozart: String Quartets, Vol. III

…….With the recordings on this album, the Armida Quartet has reached the halfway mark in a project that seeks to intimately explore an entire mountain range:

Mozart’s complete works for string quartet, to which they devote intense scrutiny within the framework of a recital series that pairs them with contemporary works specifically commissioned for the occasion.

This requires our musicians to pay a particularly attentive ear: history remains unscathed, but the members of the Armida Quartet want to call ingrained listening habits into question. By implication, they explore Mozart’s works as if the composer was looking over their shoulder. In collaboration with Henle music publishers and musicologist Wolf-Dieter Seiffert, they have embarked on a “workshop exploration” of Mozart’s string quartets in the original manuscript.

The occasional discovery of certain hitherto overlooked details leads them to interpret certain passages in exciting new ways. All the while, they gain increasing familiarity and assurance as they delve ever more deeply into the master’s musical language. The sources also confirm something that Mozart alluded to in his dedication of the six “Haydn” Quartets to his revered colleague: the fact that the work of composing can be painstaking, at times laborious.

Haydn, in return, testified to Mozart’s “greatest science of composition”, which not only implied a high level of mastery, but also the younger colleague’s capacity to ensure that the listener never felt annoyed or overwhelmed, since Mozart, as Haydn assured, “has taste”. ….. (Excerpt from the booklet notes 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. III