# Mozart - String Quartet 18 K464 'Drum' (SQ review)



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Mozart and Haydn first met in 1781 and spurred on by Haydn's excellent op.33 set of quartets Mozart strove to produce a set of his own. He finished it in 1785 and dedicated this set to Haydn (hence their nickname "the Haydn Quartets"). 
The Quartet in A major, K. 464, is the fifth in this series, written in the winter of 1785 and it soon became a firm favourite of a young man called Beethoven.
The first movement starts brightly and fluidly as the four voices begin to explore. As the music develops Mozart introduces some modulations, darker textural ideas and some surprises. The music even stops completely twice before returning to familiar ground. The 2nd movement, Minuet, has two main ideas in two connected parts, firstly with unison playing and then with happy response. These are then combined and mingled throughout the main section, in varying ways. This creates a variety of textures broken up by a smoother trio, in a different key. 
The slow 3rd movement, which many view as the heart of the quartet, is an overlong theme and variations, beginning with a gentle melody in the first violin, accompanied simply by the remaining voices. Six variations and a coda follow where each instrument is featured in its own lengthy variation. The most famous and the most interesting is the cello variation, where the staccato, drumlike bass line (hence the English name 'Drum') supports the other instruments. The finale is a mix of playfulness and a 'sighing' character. This Allegro non troppo features just two motifs, a falling chromatic figure and then a reply and this is the general theme throughout the movement. This could make the finale sound dull but different methods are used to vary things so the music is kept fresh and Mozart can still command the element of surprise. A gentle pianissimo rounds the movement out. 
As you can probably ascertain, its not one of my favourite Mozart quartets but I do enjoy it. I think that less thematic material in most movements and the fact that 3rd movement is much too long (you could trim 5 minutes off it at least, in my book) make it a mildly frustrating listen, for me. It's an andante that just outstay its welcome.. Needless to say, any ensemble who stretch this movement without much forward momentum bore me at this point (there are some). Texture and dynamics in performance are very important to me in all the Haydn quartets. With a huge number of recordings I've really had to be selective here so only very well recommended performances or better will be in my round-up below (there are plenty of recommendable ones but very few duffers). Even some quality ensembles didn't quite make the cut (eg. Auryn, Guarneri, Esterhazy, Ysaye, Pascal, American SQ, etc) 

Here's the Hagen Quartet performing it with style. 






A Place in the Sun

*ABQ (EMI)* - very good all-rounder
*Talich* - sweet-toned, floating
*Hungarian* (1962) - characterful, brisk, smiling
*New Zealand* - fine, rare live account
*Hagen* - steady, unmannered. Not their finest Mozart. 
*Cambini-Paris* - mannered but intriguing
*Salomon* - restrained but imaginative
*Bartok* - characterful, belligerent
*Budapest (1953)* - rapid pace, lean 
*Jess Wien* - live, spritely, fun
*Amadeus (1951/1964)* - great dynamics/attacks for both
*Engegard* - quick, engaing
*Franz Schubert Quartet *- fine, Andante lengthy
*Emerson* - nice attacks and fine articulation.

*Indian summer

Italiano* - a longer 3rd movement but their drum bass line is lovely and punchy. Otherwise high quality ensemble and their minuet is handled very skillfully. 
*Brentano* - a performance that's all about colour and texture. Nicely nuanced and relaxed. 
*Mosaiques* - perfectly judged with lots of colour. Some delightful minute details (loved their finale) make this a keeper. 
*ABQ (Teldec)* - perfect intonation and intelligent interplay. 4 voices in perfect harmony. 
*Prazak* - boisterous and a shade brilliantly recorded but if you like their Beethoven you'll love their more powerful Mozart too. 
*Alexander* - again its the small details and stellar interplay that set this apart from others. The way they balance their sound in volume and dynamics is so impressive. 
*Kuijken* - bouncing rhythms and a real joie de vivre Mark out this delightful account. 
*Armida* - rhythms are taut, phrasing is intelligent and their nuanced, stylish playing is a joy. 
*Lindsays* - a marvellous performance with none of the "caricature" that one biased reviewer notes. Impossible not to admire the strength of playing and commitment here. 
*Leipziger* - I had to laugh at someone on the Internet who called this performance "slick". What utter crap! It's not slick and it's certainly not homogenised in any way. It's just superb.
*Juilliard (1962)* - whilst their 1974 remake is perfectly recommendable this one is in a different league. The sound may not be as good but the graded dynamics and flowing lines of the Juilliard are heavenly. Killer first movement. 
*Petersen* - such an impressive recording. The small details are so clever (listen how they vary their attacks and adopt rubato in the drum part). I can get easily bored in this quartet but this one had me from the off. 
*Takacs* - again a lengthy Andante but they don't get bogged down and elsewhere tempi are brisker. Fresh. 
*Smetana (1966/1975)* - both so fresh and with their dancing rhythms, glorious hushed intensity, vulnerability and poise the outer movements sound so good (the 1966 recording on Testament sounds particularly lovely). 

*Heatwave

Suske (1974) *- a recording that's fun, oozes class and is meticulously played, without ornamentation. On another day this may be a little under but something about it propelled it upwards today. 

*Klenke* - there's a clarity, strength and pace to this performance that I find irresistible. I like much of the Klenke's Mozart but for me this is their finest to my ears. A superbly recorded effort with bags of forward momentum. 

*Casals* - the cascading interplay and sheer sonic pleasure of this exuberant performance speak a different musical language than others. Accents are spot-on and rhythms are brisk and always moving forwards. If pushed for a slight favourite here.....


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