QuatuorMosaiques © Lukas Beck
Quatuor Mosaïques
Tuesday
7
March
2023
18:30 – ca. 20:10
Mozart-Saal
Performers
Quatuor Mosaïques
Erich Höbarth, Violine
Andrea Bischof, Violine
Anita Mitterer, Viola
Christophe Coin, Violoncello
Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven
Streichquartett G-Dur op. 18/2 (1799–1800)
Joseph Haydn
Streichquartett C-Dur Hob. III/57 (1788)
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Johannes Brahms
Streichquartett Nr. 1 c-moll op. 51/1 (1873)
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Zugabe:
Johannes Brahms
Waldesnacht op. 62/3 (Bearbeitung für Streichquartett) (1874)
Subscription series
Quatuor Mosaïques
Presented by
Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft
»The grace of difficult birth«
By his own account, Brahms is said to have destroyed 20 string quartets before he dared to go public with two works in this genre as his op. 51 in 1873 - after all, he was already 40 years old. The first of these, the compositionally rigorous yet emotionally stirring C minor Quartet, sits lonely in the second half of the concert, which is coherently opened by the Quatour mosaïques with one of Beethoven's first »valid« contributions to the genre: the G major Quartet from the 6-part series of op. 18. Beethoven also wrestled with composing for this instrumentation, though not as Herculeanly as Brahms later did. In particular, the serene No. 2 from op. 18 - also known among musicians as the »Complementier Quartet« because of its rococo features - gives little hint of Beethoven's self-scrupulosity. Finally, it is no coincidence that the geometric center of the program is an experimental work by the actual and first unsettler of younger generations in dealing with the string quartet: Joseph Haydn.