Jean-Louis Beaumadier, the flautist on this recording, was piccolo solo for twelve years at the Orchestre National de France and has a Grand Prix from the Academie Charles Cros for his CD "La belle époque du piccolo."
Performer Biography
Pierre Henri Xuereb, the violist, was solo viola with the Ensemble Intercontemporain from 1978-1980 and has participated in over 60 CDs.
Performer Biography
Dejan Bogdanovic, the violinist, won the Yugoslav National Prize for young violinists multiple times and a unanimous first prize at the Yugoslavian National Artists Competition.
Composer Biography
Mozart expressed reluctance to compose for the flute, stating in a letter to his father, "you know I am loath to write for an instrument that I cannot bear."
Compositional Technique
In the Minuetto of K.298, Mozart mocks the lack of harmonic imagination of some contemporaries by only sketching timid beginnings of modulation.
Composition History
Mozart's Flute Quartets were commissioned by Ferdinand De Jean, a wealthy Dutch doctor and amateur flautist, whom Mozart referred to as "the Indian."
Compositional Technique
The last Flute Quartet, K.298, is a parodic musical joke where Mozart caricatures the shortcomings of some of his contemporaries.
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