Cuarteto Casals - Mozart - Early String Quartet... <RECOMMENDED>

report on Mozart's Early String Quartets (Harmonia Mundi) is a comprehensive recording project that captures the composer's formative years in the genre, specifically works written between 1770 and 1773. Album Overview Release Date: October 27, 2005. Label: Harmonia Mundi (Catalogue No. HMI 987060.62).

The quartet used a matching set of classical-period bows for this recording, acquired through a Borletti-Buitoni Trust award. Critical Reception Reviews for this specific set were polarized:

Reviewers from Gramophone praised the quartet's ability to adapt their style to the teenage Mozart, highlighting the "unusual musical insight" and lack of sentimentality. Cuarteto Casals - Mozart - Early String Quartet...

Notably fast Andantes and finales that often "tear away" at top speed.

A clear, bright tone with minimal use of vibrato to avoid over-romanticizing the early classical style. report on Mozart's Early String Quartets (Harmonia Mundi)

Critics at Classics Today were much harsher, describing the approach as having "clunky phrasing" and "minimal vibrato" that made for a "real chore" to hear, particularly in the D minor quartet K. 173. Track Highlights Notable Features Quartet No. 1 in G, K. 80

Often called the "Salzburg Symphonies," these are performed with a focus on lightness and agility. Mozart: Early QuartetsCuarteto Casals - Classics Today HMI 987060

The most significant work in the early set, featuring a complex closing fugue.