Mozart

[Geo Dude]

There could never be a problem with Mozart.

Allow me to clarify:  I wondered if I was not 'clicking' with Mozart or not clicking with that particular recording.  That doesn't imply anything is wrong with Mozart's string quartets (or with Mozart in general), just that I wondered if my personal tastes were leaning elsewhere.

Thanks for the recommendation, though.

[Bogey]

I want to do a sweep through Mozart's sacred works using the Wolfie brick.  Starting here:

Litaniae venerabili altaris sacramento KV 243

and

Litaniae de BMV (Laurentanae) KV 109

If you see one that I post and have a favorite disc that has the music, please quote me and post the disc.  Thanks!

[Karl Henning]

Hoy, Bill! Great timing: I'm digging the Juilliard Quartet's account of the "Haydn" Quartets!

[Bogey]

Hoy, Bill! Great timing: I'm digging the Juilliard Quartet's account of the "Haydn" Quartets!

Good evening, my friend.  Hah!  I felt the need to add a bit of pixie dust to my Haydn listening.....so Mozart it is!

(PS: loving that VW set)

[Karl Henning]

The "Hoffmeister" quartet was formerly a most egregious blindspot in my Mozart listening; but thanks in part to Ray's patient table-thumping, I've remedied that oversight.

Curiously, Arkiv Music lists fewer recordings of the K.499 than for any of the "Haydn" or "Prussian" quartets!  Why has this singleton suffered so much (comparative) neglect? . . .

[jlaurson]

Curiously, Arkiv Music lists fewer recordings of the K.499 than for any of the "Haydn" or "Prussian" quartets!  Why has this singleton suffered so much (comparative) neglect? . . .[/font]

Bingo!

So lonely, and without group-comfort and group-protection, it always falls by the wayside. I half expected that the situation is at least slightly similar with Beethoven viz. "Razumovsky" vs. "Serioso" vs. "Late Beethoven"... but it's actually the reverse, with Serioso being very well recorded and one of the Razumovskies dropping out.

[Brahmsian]

The "Hoffmeister" quartet was formerly a most egregious blindspot in my Mozart listening; but thanks in part to Ray's patient table-thumping, I've remedied that oversight.

Curiously, Arkiv Music lists fewer recordings of the K.499 than for any of the "Haydn" or "Prussian" quartets!  Why has this singleton suffered so much (comparative) neglect? . . .

I'm not sure why Karl.  As you already know, it is my favorite of Mozart's String Quartets!    It was also my first Mozart string quartet to hear in live performance, which just blew me away.  I think it has a more delicate, light simplicity to it, and perhaps it isn't quite as 'heavy duty' compared to K.464 and K.465, it perhaps suffers neglect.

It really should not (and does not deserve to be the most neglected of Mozart's final 10 String Quartets, in my humble opinion).

All that really matters to me, in the end, is that I REALLY LOVE this String Quartet.  Long live Hoffmeister K.499!! 

[Brahmsian]

The "Hoffmeister" quartet was formerly a most egregious blindspot in my Mozart listening; but thanks in part to Ray's patient table-thumping, I've remedied that oversight.

Curiously, Arkiv Music lists fewer recordings of the K.499 than for any of the "Haydn" or "Prussian" quartets!  Why has this singleton suffered so much (comparative) neglect? . . .

By the way, as far as Menuetto's go, the K.499 Menuetto is one of my favourites in the entire music literature.

In some cases, I find classical era Menuetto's a little sleep inducing (not often, but occassionally).  Certainly not the case with K. 499!

[Gurn Blanston]

The "Hoffmeister" quartet was formerly a most egregious blindspot in my Mozart listening; but thanks in part to Ray's patient table-thumping, I've remedied that oversight.

Curiously, Arkiv Music lists fewer recordings of the K.499 than for any of the "Haydn" or "Prussian" quartets!  Why has this singleton suffered so much (comparative) neglect? . . .

But you only need one!

This one here, of course:
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=219018

Can be had for a better price elsewhere, but easier to find here. I got it on eBay 6 weeks ago for <$10. Excellent.

[jlaurson]

Let's not forget the lovely ladies from the Klenke Quartet, who have a superb (late) Mozart cycle under their (short) belts, which includes the Hoffmeister, available on a single disc:




W.A. Mozart
String Quartets K.499 ("Hoffmeister")
& K575 ("Prussian I")
Klenke Quartet
PROFIL Haenssler

[Karl Henning]

Those talented young ladies need to do some Henning.

[chasmaniac]

Let's not forget the lovely ladies from the Klenke Quartet

Are they sweating? I think they're sweating.

[Karl Henning]

They're glowing.

[chasmaniac]

They're glowing.

[Gurn Blanston]

Those talented young ladies need to do some Henning.

Truly a multiplex sort of a statement.

[Karl Henning]

Oh, most assuredly by design, O Gurn.

[jlaurson]

Are they sweating? I think they're sweating.

Glistening. They're glistening! Wouldn't you glisten after playing through two Mozart Quartets?
But, yes... perhaps they are in need of a towel more than a Henning.

[Karl Henning]

Well, I wield a fine towel, if I do say so myself.

Henning would certainly make them sweat; they wouldn't be the first string players to find it so.

[Karl Henning]

Nor are all MI accounts of the quartets created equal (no surprise there, surely) . . . the first movement of the d minor quartet (K.421[417b]) runs 10'47 in the Juilliard Quartet recording of January 1977, but only 5'37 in the Amadeus Quartet recording of May 1966.  Of course, both sections have repeats, and it must likely be a matter of the Amadeus Quartet omitting the repeats (oh, the horror, the horror).

[Sergeant Rock]

. . . the first movement of the d minor quartet (K.421[417b]) runs 10'47 in the Juilliard Quartet recording of January 1977, but only 5'37 in the Amadeus Quartet recording of May 1966.

And the Italiano come right in between those two at 7:18.

Sarge