Mozart: Piano Quartets

Featuring

Michael Barenboim
Yulia Deyneka
Kian Soltani
Daniel Barenboim
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Recording & Production

This album features live recordings of Mozart's Piano Quartets made in the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin in May 2017 (K 478) and March 2017 (K 493).

Compositional Technique

Mozart's Piano Quartets, K 478 and K 493, uniquely balance the tonal homogeneity of strings with the piano's autonomy, creating a dynamic interplay between the two worlds.

Performer Biography

Daniel Barenboim, the pianist on this recording, has been familiar with Mozart's music as both a pianist and conductor for seven decades.

Compositional Technique

The first movement of Mozart's Piano Quartet K 478 is in G minor, a key rarely used by Mozart, contributing to its dramatic character.

Composer's Artistic Vision

In the second half of the 18th century, chamber music was considered the 'ne plus ultra' of music, allowing composers like Mozart to showcase their skills in their purest form.

Compositional Technique

The Larghetto from Mozart's Piano Quartet K 493 is in A flat major, a key that 18th-century writers associated with 'death, the grave, corruption, the Last Judgement and eternity'.

Compositional Technique

Musicologists debate whether Mozart's piano quartets are true chamber music or 'crypto-concertos' due to similarities in piano writing and instrumental interaction with his concertos.