Mozart: Haydn String Quartets

The Haydn Quartets are by Mozart: the name identifies their dedicatee rather than their composer. That distinction also suggests a useful approach. Hear six considered solutions to writing for a small ensemble, rather than a continuous wash of elegant string sound. The beginning of each work sets a different expectation. Some enter a fast movement directly; the final quartet makes its listener wait through a slow introduction.

This selection uses the twenty-four movements of K.387, 421, 428, 458, 464 and 465 from the label-linked Teldec collection of the Alban Berg Quartett’s 1970s recordings. The complete digital box contains ninety tracks, including other composers and further Mozart quartets. It is distinct from the ensemble’s later EMI cycle. Some Apple durations differ from other distributors by up to about nine seconds; the cause and identical indexing or mastering remain unverified. The official label’s direct Apple link identifies the selected distribution.

Four instruments, changing jobs

Two violins, viola and cello do not imply one melody with three permanent attendants. Try noticing when the lower instruments establish a foundation and when their movement becomes part of the argument. A small ensemble can change its internal balance without changing its personnel. The interest lies in combinations and responsibilities, not in waiting for an orchestral colour to arrive.

Check the middle movements

A four-movement plan is a useful outline, but it does not settle the order of everything inside it. K.387 places its minuet before the slow movement; K.421 reverses that relationship. Those sequences give the listener different routes through contrast and repose. Read the long digital track list in groups of four, and the collection becomes six manageable structures rather than twenty-four disconnected pieces.

An unsettled doorway

The slow introduction to K.465 delays the ease one might expect from a work in C major. Its overlapping dissonances matter partly because the ensuing Allegro changes the terms. The nickname Dissonance should not substitute for hearing that transition, or for continuing through the remaining movements. Compared with K.387, this final opening demonstrates how differently the same ensemble can invite a listener into a substantial work.