Luogo e data di registrazione		Théâtre Vevey, Vevey (Svizzera)
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Vittorio Negri
	Prima Edizione LP		Philips | 6998 014 | 3 LPs Philips | 6770 052 | 3 LPs
	Prima Edizione CD		Philips | 416 419-2 | 8 CDs (4°, 1-4, 5-8) | (c) 1990 | ADD | (KV 387 & KV 421) Philips | 422 832-2 | 1 CD - 55' 37" | (c) 1989 | ADD | (KV 428 & KV 458) Philips | 426 099-2 | 1 CD - 65' 52" | (c) 1990 | ADD | (KV 464 & 465)
	Note		Pubblicazioni in cofanetto dei sei quartetti di Mozart dedicati a Franz Joseph Haydn.

THE SIX SONS OF MOZART "To my dear friend Haydn: A father who had decided to send his sons out into the wide world thought in was his responsability to entrust them to the care and guidance of someone who was very famous at that time and who, furthermore, happeaned to be his best friend. Similarly I send my six sons to you, my very distinguished and very dear friend. They are, in fact, the fruit of long and laborious toll; but many friends have encouraged in me the hope that this teil will be rewarded in some measure and I am gratified by the thought that these children might be a comfort to me some day. During your last visit to the capital, my dear friend, you personally expressed to me your approval of these works. Your good opinion prompts me to offer them to you and to hope that you will not find them altogether unwortly of your approbation. Therefore please receive them kindly and be a father, guide, and friend to them. As from now I give up to you all my rughts over them, I beg you, however, to forgive those faults which may have escaped a father's prejudiced eye and to maintain in spite of them your generous friendship to someone who appreciates it so much... W. A. Mozart." It was in these terms, in a letter dated "Vienna, September 1, 1785," that Mozart dedicated to Joseph Haydn the six string quartets on these records. The letter immediately established two important points - first, the works were not thrown off to order, as was much of Mozart's music; second, he venerated Haydn enough to be considerably influended by his work. The veneration in this context is quite understandable. At the time the letter was written more than 40 string quartets had been composed by Haydn and they represented most of the significant growth of the form from simple divertimenti for a merely fortuitous combination of instruments wothout a continuo to the highly demanding medium of musical expression which not much later was to be the channel of Beethoven's inspiration. Alongside this development of the string quartet as a form Mozart himself developed. In his 13 quartets before the "Haydn" set we can see the early influence of the Italian style soon being superseded by the influence of Haydn's experiments; we can see the emancipation of the viola and cello, which become increasingly independent voices instead of stiff and servile accompanying instruments. But before Mozart's quartets became fully mature he himself had to win artistic emancipation. The last quartet before the six which concrn us was written in 1773, when Mozart was in the service of the tyrannical Archbishop of Salzburg. But by the time he began the first "Haydn" quartet in 1782 he had broken free of the court's shackles, married the woman he loved (against his father's wishes), and set up home in Vienna, facing the world with little material support but with a brave new spirit of independence which helped to make the boy a man and the precocious composer a master of his art. Strangely, and perhaps significantly, Mozart's inactivity in the field of the string quartet between 1773 amd 1782 matches a similar pause in Haydn's quartet output which stepped in 1772 and began again in 1781. In that year Haydn published the famous "Russian" quartets, a set of six which he announced as having been written "in am entirely new and special manner." The announcement was more than a mere adversting gimmick, for the works displayed a much greater degree of artistic unity than had been apparent before, particularly in the close relationship of their thematic material. There is no doubt that Mozart was considerably impressed and influenced by this new step forward in Haydn's week. And it was probably the decisive factor in spurring him on to take up the form again in 1782 with the G major quartet, K. 387. It is in this work that we first meed a new Mozart - a Mozart who looks forward to Beethoven rather than backward to the Baroque. We see him striving for and achieving the unity that Haydn sought in the "Russian" quartets, but in a completely individual way. As the set tales shape we often find movements that are Haydnesque, but within their context they could have been written only by Mozart. FLOWERING OF A FRIENDSHIP Exactly when Mozart conceived the idea of the dedication to Haydn is not clear but it seems likely that it was not until the personal acquaintance of the two composers became a close friendship in 1784 when Haydn, then Prince Nicholas Esterházy's musical director, paid an extended visit to Vienna. On several occasions Mozart was invited to play at the Esterházy musical evenings and soon both Haydn and he were taking delight in playing chamber music privately together with mutual friends. By the time this personal friendship had fully flowered three of the quartets in the "Haydn" set had been written. From the musical point of view, however, the matter is of incidental interest. What is important is that the set as a whole displays a wonderful integration of style, technique, and meed, and when it was finally presented to Haydn in 1785 he at once recognised the true genius behind it. This was to his credit for hitherto he could hot have bad much opportunity to assess the real stature of the young composer - and, in fact, these quartets added a totally new dimension to it. It was a good example of the maxim that in sometimes takes genius to recognise genius. After a performance of three of the works at Mozart's home Haydn drew aside Leopold, the composer's father who was on a visit from Salzburg at the time, and told him confidentially: "I declare to you before God as an honest man that your son is the greatest composer I know either personally or by hearsay; he has taste and, moreover, complete mastery of the art of composition." The quartets not only impressed Haydn profoundly as a listener and performer: henceforward they were to excet a noticeable influence on his own work - as they were also to influence Beethoven when he, in turn, came to carry the quartet to its spiritual zenith. FORM, STYLE, AND PERFORMANCE These are not the last string quartets that Mozart wrote but they are certainly the greatest. They are the first of what are sometimes known as his "ten great" quartets, the others being the D major (K. 499) of 1786 and the three written in 1789-90 for the king of Prussia. While the last three are constructed with masterly skill we find Mozart writing again for a particular purpose - this time so show off His Majesty's proficiency as a cellist. The "Haydn" quartets have no such limitations on style and give Mozart the chance to express himself freely and naturally. The outstanding characteristics of all six are their brilliant construction and the contrapuntal treatment of the material. The works abound in fugal incidents and the use of canons. sometimes in what appear to be impossible circumstances. Canons by their very mature are limited to sequances which happen to match harmonically and contrapuntally. Obviously complicated melodies are less likely to be suitable for canons than short simple thematic statements. This may seem irrilevant, but the abundance of canons in these quartets points to the fact that, contrary to popular belief, Mozart was a thematic rather than a melodic composer. In isolation his themes in these quartets follow relatively simple patterns but it is this very fact that enables him to build with them complex structures which nevertheless are so artistically integrated that they flatter the car before the intellet; one need not be aware of the technicalities to enjoy the effect. In these quartets we also find Mozart adapting form to his own purpose in a subele way that opened up great possibilities for the future. By combining characteristics of rondo and sonata form in some movements, for instance, he develops his material as it returns and so can dispense with the development section of the basic sonata-form structure. His codas, when they appear at all, make a fascinating study particularly in the last two quartets of the st. The intimacy of chamber music made the theatrical introduction (designed to warm audiences that a work was starting) and the theatrical coda (which told them it was ending) unnecessary encumbrances. Save for the mysterious opening of K. 465, Mozart dispenses with the introduction in these works; but in many instances he retains the coda and puts it no another use in movements of sonata form. Here we find melodic effshoots of main thematic material finding a place in codettas and codas in a way which anticipates the much bolder developments by Beethoven in this field. Mozart's minuets, while retaining accepted form, are no longer purely dances nor are they the light-hearted interludes that Haydn developed and which in Beethoven's hands became scherzos. In these quartets they are integral parts strcuturally of the works in which they appear. In some cases their function is to provide emotional contrast or even relief, but they are equally often moulds into which Mozart cam pour surprisingly intenue feeling - in the minuet of K. 421 for instance - and where there is a marked overall pattern the minuet material plays its full part. In this respect the care that the Quartetto Italiano have taken in these recordings in going back wherever possible to the original tempo indications is importat. The tendency of the time the quartets were written was towards an increase in pace in the minuet, particularly in the works of Haydn. There is reason to believe, however, that Mozart was concerned about this tendency and that this was reflected in his original tempo indications. Believing that clarity of detail and care in the expression of mood and character are of first importance in these works, the Quartetto Italiano have adhered, for instance, to the "allegretto" markings of the first edition rather than the "allegro" of later editions in general use. It was not a lightly taken step. All the bowings, tempi, and dynamic indications used in these performances have, in fact, been decided on only after the most careful research by the members of the quartet themeselves based on the autograph and fist editions and other important contemporary documents. These have been studied carefully and compared with later sources, particularly the Einstein and Bärenreiter editions. The result on these records is not so much a performance as a dedicated reappraisal of these six masterpieces. -------------------- QUARTET IN G, K. 387 Completed on New Year's Eve 1783, this work immediately marks the new maturity of style and mastery of construction which characterises the set as a wholle. Throughout one senses rather than recognises the significance of every note on every instrument. It has the kind of unity one meets in the later Beethoven piano sonatas where all the material has a general "family" resemblance, and it has the same strength of character. The main theme of the first movement (in sonata form) is announced immediately by the first violin and provides the basis for the work as a whole. In fact, the theme iteself is a melodic development of its first two phrases. The important elements are the interval of a fourth which rises to the tonic at the start of the theme (this dominates the work, often being filled in with notes which either rise or fall in scale sequances) and the drooping chromatic shape of the second phrase. The second subject, distinguished by an important oscillating phrase, appears first at the second violin and, although structurally related to the first theme, is very different in character. The minuet and trio borrow these features; even the dense alternation of piano and forte, lending a feeling of cross-rhythm to the main theme, is derived from the previous movement. In the restful Andate (in C) which follows there is an almost continuous development of the main theme until a sparse functional modulation takes us back from the dominant to a cleverly varied recapitulation. The finale is a superbly constructed fugal movement in sonata form later to have its symphonic counterpart in the "Jupiter" Symphony. The ubiquitous fourth is at the heart of the initial subject and after the taut complexity of its fugal treatment the tuneful almost jocular second subject comes as a surprise, although it has the "family" resemblance. There is a pseudo-development in which a  chromatic sequence shrough the fourth passes from one instrument to another and leads us surreptitiously into the recapitulation. The work ends with a calm simple restatement of the initial fugue subject. QUARTET IN D MINOR, K. 421 Structural unity is the hallmark of K. 387 and emotional unity that of K. 421, which was written by Mozart in June 1783 - part ot it while his wife was giving birth to their first child. It is the only quartet of the set in a minor key and an inescapable air of melancholy pervades the whole work. While we can never trust Mozart's music as a reflection of his circumstances or personal character, one cannot help feeling that here he has exposed a little more of his soul than he normally allows us to se. All this is not to say that emotion is a substitute for the craftsmanship of K. 387; on the contrary the work is constructed with masterly precision and there is the same sense of basic unity. The main theme of the passionate first movement again reveals some unifying elements - a sobbing dotted quaver and reiterated notes in clutches of three in the accompaniment (this, is the 4/4 time of the movement, adds to the air of agitation). Reiterated notes also accompany the second theme in F major. In the development which opens with a bold modulation to E flat, a prominent part is played by a sextuplet wich makes its first appearance in the codetta. While the fourth was predominant in K. 387, the third is the important interval in K. 421, particularly in the Andante (in F). The tender, reflective theme, in which the rests play an almost melodic part, centres round a third in its first phrase. Recurring elements which soon emerge are the reiterated notes and the sextuplet, which now fits normally into the 6/8 rhythm. Instead of providing relief the minuet takes us back in key, mood, and structure to the restless main theme of the first movement. With a change to D major and a pizzicato accompaniment, the first violin makes a determined effort to be cheerful in the trio but never quite shakes off the air of melancholy. The final movement is a set if variations on a Siciliano theme. As 6/8 rhythm, a minor key, and the dotted quaver are all characteristic features of the Siciliano, the theme fits the character and structure of the work perfectly. Again its basis rests on thirds and reiterated notes. The last variation moves to D major and is more restful but the theme returns to end the work with all the intensity with which it began. QUARTET IN E FLAT, K. 428 This quartet composed in 1783 is full of sudden and surprising flashes of inspiration, and we get one almost as soon as the work has begun. The cromatic main theme of the first movement is immediately stated in bold unison, giving a feeling of tonal ambiguity after an initial united emphasis on the tonic E flat. But when the theme reappears a few bars later it is suddenly richly harmonised with bold use of a diminished seventh. A long trill on the first violin announces the arrival of the second theme which is more comfortingly melodic. The development is dominated by a soaring passage of triplets and is followed by one of Mozart's cleverly reworked recapitulations, the highlights being a delightful little canon of one of the exposition's linking phrases and a new, smoothly flowing accompaniment to the main theme. In the richly chromatic second movement (Andante con moto), the tension of the masterly harmony contrasts perfectly with the smooth legato phrasing of the theme and provides an exquisite bittersweet quality. The minuet (in E flat) is delightfully fresh and stimulating and has a distinct folk flavour in its closing section: this provides material for the trio, a shadowy affair which opens in C minor before wending its way to B flat major. The robust, vigorous finale is Haydnesque in style but constructed in a typical Mozartian manner which combines characteristics of rondo and sonata form. For simplicity's sake it is probably easier to regard it as a sonata-form movement without a development. There are two main themes and a number of episodes related to the business-like first subject which returns in rondo fashion until the second subject appears in the dominant with an enchanting little triplet and emphatic accents. The "recapitulation" begins after an appropriate pause and presents all the material in cleverly edited form. QUARTET IN B FLAT, K. 458 "THE HUNT" The B flat quartet was completed on November 9, 1784. While it is associated more with its two successors that its three predecessors (it is possible that the three previous quartets were written before Mozart conceived the idea of the dedication), there are some coincidental links with K. 421 - the persistence in places of the folk flavour of K. 421's minuet and the Haydnesque nature of its finale. K. 458, one of the most popular of the set, has been given the nickname "The Hunt" because of the theme of the Haydnesque first movement, which suggest a hunting song with its galloping 6/8 rhythm, its horn-like phrasing, and the soft echoing of its inner parts. As usual Mozart starts with sonata form, but this time it is not at all regular: there is no proper subject and instead the development begins with what seems to be a new theme (it is, in fact, a melodie development) in the dominant key of F major - the key which a normal second subject would have had. Another surprise is the long coda which mischievously begins like a new development when one is prepared for the end of the work at the codetta in the recapitulation. The second movement is a straighrforward minuet and trio, presumably to separate the boisterous good humour of the first movement from the profundity of the third. The minuet's easy grace is, in fact, the perfect emotional bridge to the Adagio in E flat, which is the real heart of the work. Its tender eloquence is combined with latent power in its harmony and it has many movements of supreme beauty, particularly in its second theme. Here the first violin subtly evades the key of B flat on which the cello insists when the theme first appears and then the cello takes over itself, playing the theme on its golden upper register. The finale in sonata form takes us right back to the Haydnesque humour of the first movement. Again the main theme is folk-like and has a resemblance to the initial hunting song. The development concentrates mainly on a fugato treatment of the main theme's second phrase but half-way through we come on a sudden hushed passage which seems to mimic the entry of the Adagio's second theme. Unlike the first movement there is no coda, a few additional phrases sufficing to bring the work to an enphatic close. QUARTET IN A, K. 464 The A major quartet, completed on January 10, 1784, was a particular favourite of Beethoven, which is not surprising in view of its superb craftsmanship and unity. It is sometimes called "The Drum" because of a distinctive drumming bass which emerges in the third movement, but it could be argued that this is the result of an intricate rhythmic evolution, which like most of the other outstanding features of the work, begins in embryo in the first movement. The overall pattern is the division of each subject into two sections (the exception being the contrasting third movement) and the juxtaposition of the two parts in counterpoint. The first movement has, unusually, a short subsidiary theme in C major which introduces the second subject proper. The expsition ends with a reference in the codetta to the main theme's second section and significantly this is included in the ultimate coda in a prominent position. The minuet which follows (still in A), is merely a framework into which Mozart pours music which is sometimes almost savage in its intensity. The first part of the main theme is based on the second section of the previous movement's second theme. Both parts of the minuet end with the rhythmic pattern of the first movement's codetta figure and this appears yet again at the end of the romantic trio theme which offers temporary relief in its lush, swelling harmony. The real relief, however, comes in the third movement which is a theme and variations. The tranquillity of the smonthly flowing theme extends to the variations which seem to grow increasingly independet. In the last variation before the theme returns the cello breaks into its cheerful drumming accompaniment below the sweetly moving upper stringe. The finale, in sonata form, takes us back to the first principles of the first movement. The main subject's first section has the rhythmic form of the opening of the minuet (it is, in fact, an inversion of the minuet's ancestor in the first movement). The second section has the rhythmic form of the second section of the first movement's main theme. It was the heart of this that provided the recurring codetta figure and it is the heart that Mozart wants here. He immediately cuts it out and lets it stand alone. Soon we hear a familiar throbbing from the cello but this time it is a sinister ostinato bass. The second subject (with an antecedent in the second part of the minuet) is so late in appearing that Mozart lets it fulfil a double role in providing the codetta. In the middle of the development we suddenly find ourselves back in the lush romantic atmosphere of the trio theme, which Mozart recreates harmonically using the material of the main theme's first section. QUARTET IN C, K. 465 "DISSONANCE" Only four days after completing K. 464 Mozart had finished the "Haydn" set with one of the most controversial and puzzling works in chamber-music history. Much has been written about its famous adagio introduction with its dissonant entries, which seems out of character with the rest of the work, but its structural significance remains a mystery. There are some pointers to future thematic material but strangely there is as much in common with the finale of the previous quartet (the elements of the main theme are there, for instance, over the ostinato bass). When the Allegro break into 4/4 we suddenly find ourselves out in the sunshine in a theme of refreshing simplicity. The opening phrase, however, centres round the interval of a third which eventually dominates the rocking triplets of the second subject. The important coda uses a little subsidiary theme originally derived from the second part of the main subject. In the second movement there are three main elements, an extended and beautifully balanced melody (A), a little bridge figure centring round the third which is constantly repeated (B), and the second subject which recalls certain characteristics of the introduction (C). The form is ABCBABC, like a rondo but with B recurring instead of A. When C reappears, however, it is unexpectedly repeated in a revised form and leads into a coda which combines the bridge figure with a little subsidiary theme on the first violin - fashioned (as in the first movement) from the second part of the first theme. The minuet and trio provide with their wide intervals relief from the close working of the previous movement. Significantly the minuet ends with another of those singing closes on the first violin. The finale has a brisk, carefree main theme. The second subject emerges initially as a duet for the violins. The first violin then goes dancing in G major through a maze of semiquavers towards the codetta. But suddendly as it emerges on a lone D there is a stunning modulation to E flat (using the Neapolitan sixth) and we are in the middle of what seems like a new theme. It is, however, the codetta and the "theme" is a cleverly disguised version of the opening of the first subject. Following the pattern of the previous movements Mozart should have used it in the final coda, but by using it here he can resummon it eventually. This he does, letting the cello join in too, and he follows it up with a good old-fashioned theatrical-style coda - a rare occurrence in his mature chamber music - so ending the work, and the set, with a fine flourish. A. David Hogarth QUARTETTO ITALIANO The Quartetto Italiano is deservedly one of the most renowned quartets of our time. It was as long ago as 1945, soon after completing their studies, that Paolo Borciani, Elisa Pegreffi, Piero Farulli, and Franco Rossi, resisting the tempting promise of individual careers as soloists, decided to pool their youthful enthusiasm and musical talent and devote themselves to the difficult but satisfying art of playing chamber music really well. By 1947 the group had established a firm reputation in the musical press and begun giving concerts outside Italy. In 1951 they visited the United States for the first time, and it was soon apparent that their devotion to their music and the impeccable standards of performances they had set for themselves were earning them fame as well as satisfaction. Over the years since 1945 they have remained together, a rare example of team work in music. To list the group’s wide-ranging activities in that time is pointless: they have done everything one might expect of one of the world’s finest quartets. They have given hundreds of concerts all over Europe and in the United States; they are regular partecipants in the chamber-music concours of many countries; and they have played and are in constant demand at the world’s great music festivals. Outside the concert circuit the members of the quartet teach chamber music at both the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and the Conservatoire in Vienna. In addition to the many words of praise bestowed on them – after their first concert in New York, Virgil Thomson, the distinguished critic of the “New York Herald Tribune,” called them “the finest quartet, unquestionably, that our century has known” – they have been publicy honoured by the President of Italy as a more tangible recognition of their outstanding artistic services over the years to Italy in particular and the world of music in general.