Mozart: String Quartets Nos. 15, K. 421 & 21, K. 421

Featuring

Sándor Jávorkai
Kazutaka Takahashi
Alexander Park
Ádám Jávorkai
Mozarthaus Vienna String Quartet
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Composer Biography

Mozart referred to the composition of his quartets as "arduous work" and was forced to sell them "for a pittance" due to his chronic money shortage.

Compositional Technique

In the String Quartet in D major, KV 575, the cello plays an exposed role in the trio, suggesting Mozart may have intended it for King Frederick William II of Prussia, who was an excellent cellist.

Composition History

Mozart dedicated his six "Haydn Quartets" (KV 387, 421, 458, 428, 464, 465) to Joseph Haydn, referring to them as his "six children" and the "fruits of long and painstaking work."

Composer's Artistic Vision

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart deeply revered Joseph Haydn, stating, "I have learnt from Haydn how quartets have to be written."

Performer Biography

The Mozarthaus Vienna String Quartet members, Sándor Jávorkai, Kazutaka Takahasi, Alexander Park, and Ádám Jávorkai, met as scholarship holders of the Herbert von Karajan Centrum.

Critical Reception

Joseph Haydn, after hearing Mozart's new quartets, told Mozart's father that his son was "the greatest composer I know by person and by name."

Composition History

Mozart intended to compose six "Prussian Quartets" for King Frederick William II of Prussia, but only completed three (KV 575, 589, 590) due to unclear reasons, possibly chronic money shortage.