9. Crespo Series

The absolute perfection of Mozart

Bartók’s Fourth Quartet is like a coiled spring, releasing huge bursts of energy at critical moments. He was in search of a new sound to take the place of German romanticism, while fully aware he was treading in the footsteps of Bach, Beethoven and Debussy. He was equally obsessed with the folk music of the Balkan mountains, undertaking long expeditions to record the music of the mountain people. In this way he assimilated the old and the new, the sophisticated and the simple. Listening to Bartók is a thrilling experience as he experiments with new and impossible techniques combined with warm, exotic string sounds and incredible charges of energy.

In May 1787 Mozart was at a very difficult time in his life. He was in poor health, his father had just died and his finances were under so much pressure he had to move to cheaper lodgings, but instead of writing some easily sold Divertimenti he wrote two perfect string quintets to perform at home with his fellow composers and musicians. He offered them for subscription as a way of raising money – there were no subscribers for the music was too complex for amateur musicians. In our concert Festival regular, Dana Zemtsov, joins the now familiar NOVO Quartet to play the G minor Quintet, a work of absolute perfection.