Title: Klavier Quartette
Description: Mozart composed two quartets for piano, violin, viola, and cello. The form was relatively unusual in Mozart's time, and what models there were tended to treat the strings as accompaniment to the keyboard rather than as equal partners. It appears that Mozart's work has its genesis in a commission from the Viennese publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister for three such works, the remaining two being canceled by Hoffmeister when he saw the G Minor work and recognized that it would be far too difficult for amateurs, the usual market for keyboard-based chamber music. Cast in Mozart's most dramatic key, the work (like its companion, the Piano Quartet in E flat, K. 493) certainly goes far beyond the conventional domestic character of similar chamber works, its dark, romantic sonorities enhanced by a true chamber music equality of part-writing that emphasizes the lower strings. The writing for piano skillfully juxtaposes passages of concerto-like virtuosity with others in which the instrument fades and blends into the texture of the strings, a feature achieved far more effectively in performance with the use of a piano of Mozart's time than with a modern concert grand. There are three movements, the first a powerful Allegro that contrasts stormy drama with more lyrical introspection. This unsettled mood carries through into the central Andante, while even the final movement, a rondo, fails to bring the lighthearted relief generally expected from such movements. Like its companion, the E flat Quartet skillfully juxtaposes concerto-like writing for the piano with more integrated chamber textures. The overall mood of mellowness contrasts strongly with the dark drama of the G minor quartet. There are three movements, with a sonata-form Allegro followed by a Larghetto featuring a rapt dialogue between piano and strings. Exchange of material between piano and strings is also a feature of the high-spirited Allegretto that concludes the work. Both this work and the G minor quartet are among the peaks of Mozart's chamber music; they are works that far transcend the few models Mozart had available -- works that in any case relied too much on a texture in which the strings merely accompanied the piano. - Brian Robins at allmusic.com