[SACD-R][OF] Mozart – Piano Quartets, KV 478, 493 (Mozart Piano Quartet) - 2009 (Classical/Chamber/Piano)

Mozart Piano Quartet:
Within the shortest time the Mozart Piano Quintet, founded in 2000, has been catapulted to the top echelon of the international music world. This is hardly surprising inasmuch as 4 international soloists & finalists & 1st-prize winners at many international competitions form its instrumental lineup: Paul Rivinius (piano), Mark Gothoni (violin), Hartmut Rohde (viola), & Peter Hörr (violoncello). Their interest in new repertoire makes them an ideal MDG partner.

Not sure if MDG record in DSD. I think they started out with DVD-Audio, before SACDs, so I suspect they record in PCM. I would really appreciate any enlightenment anyone can give me.
Like most terms, “chamber music” has meant different things at different times. From the late Baroque through the early Classical era, it served mainly as leisure for amateurs. After all, much was commissioned for the use of a patron. Franz Joseph Haydn’s baryton trios, for example, written for Prince Esterházy to play, probably demonstrate this principle most clearly. Composers usually pursued virtuosity elsewhere in the solo or concerted work which showed them off performing on their chosen instrument, in the elaborate orchestral work (usually orchestral suites; later on, symphonies), & in public music like opera & church pieces. Haydn, so often the key figure in the transition to new forms & – just as important – to new contexts for old forms, began to demand a higher level of ability not only in the chamber works like the piano trios (where, presumably, he played the keyboard part), but also in the string quartets, with their obvious connections to the series of symphonies, as opposed to formally simpler dance suites.
Mozart, in his mature chamber works, not only made Haydn’s demands for more skilled players, but added something new, even modern: a new attitude toward the function of chamber music. For the performers, chamber music was still leisure & social activity; Mozart added something for the composer, who now wrote to express an inner seriousness (though not necessarily solemnity) of purpose. This corresponds to the literary movement of Romanticism, where the public forms of epic & drama give way to the interior lyric as the central poetic form. Chamber music similarly moves from divertissement to meditation.
Mozart seems to have invented the piano quartet. No one has found examples among his contemporaries or immediate predecessors, not even in Haydn, a prolific inventor of new instrumental combinations. Mozart left only these 2 examples, but they count among the very best. I say this, by the way, as someone who doesn’t automatically swoon at the mention of Mozart’s name. I’m not wild about the classical idiom in general, & a lot of Mozart bores the bejabbers out of me. However, Mozart & G minor go together like veggie burger & french fries. Furthermore, the technical problems of the combination – how to keep instrumental independence, how to give the cello or viola something interesting to do not already played by the violin or piano – Mozart has solved apparently without breaking a sweat.
This G minor & the String Quintet, K. 516 both share a stormy urgency, which culminates in the Symphony #40, also in G minor. The 1st movement is full of memorable themes (at least 1 a major-mode variation on the opening theme), but it’s really the development where the action happens. Textbooks usually call the development a “free fantasia on the major themes.” This is true, but in this work, the definition misses the point. Rather than treat the development as an occasion merely to display his powers of invention, Mozart comes up with a dramatic structure, in which “we lose ourselves to find ourselves.” In other words, we stray so far from our point of origin, that the matter of our return becomes an element of tension. How will he lead us back? Several times, the opening theme intrudes on the development, only to give way to other material. In a 10-minute movement, we arrive on solid ground only in the last minute or so, so it’s a cliff-hanger. The 2nd movement begins by playing elegant games with shifting accents & downbeats, so you only occasionally glimpse where in the measure you are. The 3rd movement initially tries to convince you of its naïvete, with an extremely simple announcement of the main, rondo-like theme in the piano. The strings’ immediate restatement, however, blows away that impression. In fact (although I haven’t checked), it seems to be an “anti-rondo.” Instead of episodes alternating with 1 or 2 main themes (a rondo, in words), a small group of ideas seem to occur in more or less the same order. It turns out not quite that simple, of course. For 1 thing, you’re never quite sure when the initial theme will return. Mozart sets up transitional passages based on the idea & then switches you to something else. Also, the passages corresponding to “episodes” seem to have caught the bug of sonata development.
I apologize for going on so about the formal features of the work, but they do strike me as remarkable – revolutionary even – & as such at odds not only with Wolfgang the Powdered Wig Boy view of the composer, but also with the view that allows the listener a pro forma obeisance to Greatness before switching off the brain. In the interest of space, I’ll avoid doing the same for the Eb quartet, although it’s mind-altering as well, even though it approaches structure completely differently.
SA-CD.net review by steviev:
Am I the only person who has noticed the old-school, carictured period instrument inspired string-playing on display here? I can tolerate, & even enjoy this as long as the players have immaculate intonation, preferably on gut strings. I don’t hear that on this recording — just a lot of harsh, gritty attacks & sour held notes. Sorry, fellows, but you don’t have the proper ears, technique, or equipment to pull this off. Please apply a little vibrato when you cannot hit a note sweetly & squarely — that’s what it’s there for.
Record companies should warn buyers when specious “period” techniques will be employed on modern instruments.
Perfect sound with intimate, precise soundstage. Great playing by Paul Rivinius on a modern grand piano.
Avoid.
HRAudio review by John Broggio:
A delightful disc in every way.
The playing here, on modern instruments, is exemplary in every way imaginable; there is tasteful use of vibrato where it becomes an embellishment in its own right, there are ornamentations applied in very good taste, the phrasing is done in a way that sounds just right – in short the performances are in as perfect proportion to the music as the music is perfection personified itself. The textures are lithe, owing to the sparing use of vibrato & allow phrases to be passed between string instruments with far more ease than is the norm. There is warmth in the slow movements as well, easily recalling memories of Schnabel with the Pro Arte quartet (although with a far better recording & a more modern style of playing). The piano/strings balance is also handled with great care & even when 1 party is dominating proceedings, the other contributions are always audible without reference to the scores. In short the felicities of the music & the performance they receive conspire to make the mind scream with joy – every repeat is included & in these hands, rightly so.
The recording is one of MDG’s best 2+2+2 recordings & all details are clearly audible with a placing of the listener in the best seat of a very fine chamber hall.
Highly & enthusiastically recommended.