Other
ensembles using gut strings, including the Festetics and Salomon
quartets, gave brilliant accounts of music between the Baroque and
Romantic periods. But for much of its 24-year history, the Vienna-based
Mosaïques set new standards not only for proficiency but also probity
and poetry.
Friday's performances made up the most satisfying exploration of Viennese classicism I heard in nearly half a century.
The
program was built on first and last things: Franz Schubert's first
mature quartet, the C-minor "Quartettsatz"; the last of the six
quartets young Wolfgang Mozart dedicated to Joseph Haydn, the C-major
"Dissonant"; and Haydn's last completed instrumental piece, the F-major
Quartet, Op. 77, No. 2.
Satisfying debut for The Mosaïques
Satisfying debut for The Mosaïques
The
Mosaïques recorded all but the Schubert decades ago. Friday their tone
was even more refined, colorful and expressive, with a complete absence
of acidity. Transparency had allied with the texture of suede. Limited
vibrato enhanced expression that was warm, occasionally fervent, never
over the top.
With the bicentennial of Haydn's death a month away, the Op. 77, No. 2 held special interest. The ensemble tellingly communicated both the work's playfulness and gentle melancholy. The third movement march that begins as a duet between violin and cello, with the second violin and viola stealing in, was especially fanciful. The finale, energetic but unforced, danced farewell.
Haydn was 70 when he wrote his quartet, Mozart, 25. The vividness of the Mosaïques' playing made each composer seem young. But more: Its Mozart sounded utterly beguiling in naturalness, neither falsely delicate nor forcedly robust.
Schubert's difficult single movement set the tone for the entire evening, with first violin Erich Höbarth's white-gold sound a thing of beauty in itself.