Quatuor Mosaïques
Quatuor Mosaïques is among the leading original instrument or authentic performance string quartets.
Its members were all part of the Concentus Musicus Wien, the pioneer original instruments group associated with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In 1983 Christoph Coin, the cellist and viola da gamba player of the Concentus Musicus, founded Ensemble Mosaïques, a smaller group, inviting a number of his colleagues from Concentus Musicus to join. In 1985, four members of Ensemble Mosaïques formed the Quatuor Mosaïques, one of the first string quartets devoted to use of period instruments and authentic performance practices.
Its members are Erich Hobarth, who plays a 1683 violin by Francesco Ruggieri of Cremona; Andrea Bischof, with an eighteenth century French violin; Anita Mitterer, who plays a viola made by Chrisopher Lüthi as a replica of an Amati instrument; and Coin, whose cello was made by Carlo Antonio Testore of Milan in 1758.
It is not particularly the age of a string instrument that makes it a "period instrument." Many string players have instruments that were made in the Baroque era that are classified as modern instruments. Rather, it is the way the instrument is set up. Instruments intended to be authentic to the Baroque and most of the Classical period have bridges that are shaped differently than the modern violin bridge, use gut strings (rather than today's wire or wire-wrapped strings), lack a chin rest, and are played with a convex rather than a concave bow. These differences give the Quatuor Mosaïques a very different sound from a modern string quartet. The instruments have a clearer though less penetrating sound, and the different style of bow softens the attack of a note. Since the string quartet was apparently not perceived until the mid-eighteenth century, the Quatuor Mosaïques repertory is virtually confined to the Classical period and part of the early Romantic era, but this is a rich field, including the many quartets of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, both Haydn brothers, Boccherini, and others.
Quatuor Mosaïques rapidly became well known for its informed and stylistically correct approach to this repertory, and for the accuracy and poetic nature of its performances. Soon it was invited to perform in major European festivals, including the Vienna Festival Week, the Salzburg Festival, Resonances, the Styrian Arts Festival, the Edinburgh Festival and the Aldeburgh Festivals in Great Britain, and others. It has performed in major European cities and has presented complete Beethoven quartet cycles in several venues.
It records for the Auvidis/Astrée and Auvidis/Valois labels and has received Gramophone Awards for its sets of the opus 20 and opus 33 quartets by Joseph Haydn, and the Diapason d'Or and Recording of the Year 1989 for its set of Haydn's opus 77 quartets and the opus 103 quartet.
© TiVo
-
Complete Haydn Recordings
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Höbarth, Andrea Bischof, Mitterer Anita, Christophe Coin
Quartets - Released by naïve classique on 1 Sep 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Quintette avec clarinette
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 16 Mar 1993
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven : The Late Quartets, Op. 127 - 135
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Höbarth, Andrea Bischof, Mitterer Anita, Christophe Coin
Quartets - Released by naïve classique on 29 Sep 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Quatuors, K. 499 & K. 589
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Höbarth, Andrea Bischof, Mitterer Anita, Christophe Coin
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Quatuors, Op. 33
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Höbarth, Andrea Bischof, Mitterer Anita, Christophe Coin
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 76
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 25 Apr 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Les quatuors dédiés à Haydn
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 1 Dec 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven : Quatuors à cordes n°1 & 4
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 17 May 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Quartets Op. 12 & 13
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 6 May 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven : Quatuors à cordes n°2 & 3
Quartets - Released by naïve classique on 3 Apr 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Trois quatuors sur instruments d'époque, Op. 77
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Hörbarth, Andrea Bischof, Anita Mitterer, Christophe Coin
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 1 Sep 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 77
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 24 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 20
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 25 Apr 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Quatuors Prussiens
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Höbarth, Andrea Bischof, Mitterer Anita, Christophe Coin
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Quatuors, Op. 18 Nos. 5 et 6
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: The Last Seven Words of Our Savior on the Cross
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 23 Feb 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: String Quartets Nos. 10 & 13
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 21 May 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joseph Wölfl: String Quartets, Op. 4 & Op. 10
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Höbarth, Andrea Bischof, Mitterer Anita, Christophe Coin
Classical - Released by paladino music on 1 Jan 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Les quatuors dédiés à Haydn sur instruments d'époque, Vol. 2
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Hörbarth, Andrea Bischof, Anita Mitterer, Christophe Coin
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 1 Apr 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Six quatuors de l'opus 20
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Hörbarth, Andrea Bischof, Mitterer Anita, Christophe Coin
Chamber Music - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn : Trois quatuors sur instruments d'époque, Op. 20, Vol. 1
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Hörbarth, Andrea Bischof, Anita Mitterer, Christophe Coin
Quartets - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo