Mozart: String Quintets

The relatively novel instrumental combination which Mozart used for his string quintets (employing two violas) seems to have been inspired by a work by his friend and colleague Michael Haydn. Throughout his life Mozart loved the dusky sonority of the viola, always his instrument of choice when he played chamber music with friends. Beyond that, prompted by Michael Haydn’s charming, lightweight Notturno, he was evidently eager to explore a medium that enabled him to indulge his fondness for dark, saturated textures and rich inner-part writing.

The complete String Quintets is a enchanting body of chamber music, recorded here in a 3-disc set by the peerless Nash Ensemble.

CDA67861/3  177 minutes 33 seconds (3 discs)
SUNDAY TIMES CLASSICAL CD OF THE WEEK
‘The performances … are magnificently played throughout—conversational, argumentative, profoundly expressive, witty—and rank with the finest ever committed to disc’ (The Sunday Times)
‘The four quintets are among Mozart's richest chamber works. The Nash Ensemble's survey of all six pieces … is light in touch, with transparency of texture and clarity of part-playing given high ...