Masterclass: Mozart String Quartet K428

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The Armida Quartet has recorded all 23 of Mozart’s string quartets and this one, in E flat major, is one of my favourites. There is no sense of hierarchy from the first violin down, and its individual voices come together to create a beautiful, special character.

Mozart wrote this piece in 1783, after moving from Salzburg to work as a freelance composer in Vienna. There he paid frequent visits to the Dutch diplomat Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who introduced him to contrapuntal works by Bach and Handel. This influence, combined with the compositions of his friend Haydn – particularly the op.33 string quartets – inspired him to compose using a mixture of the old and modern influences that can be heard in all six of his ‘Haydn’ quartets, of which this is the third. These works mark a new era of intellectual, complex composition for Mozart. He did not write them for huge public crowds, as he did with his operas, but for the musical connoisseurs and educated composers among whom he wished to consolidate his position…