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The Albion Quartet presents the Minuetto and Trio from Mozart String Quartet in A major, K464 ‘The Drum’. The performance was filmed earlier in 2022 at Exeter Cathedral.
‘The Drum’ quartet was completed on 10 January 1785, and is the fifth quartet in Mozart’s set of six string quartets composed between 1782 and 1785, dedicated to Haydn. These ‘Haydn Quartets’ were published as a set later that year in Vienna as Mozart’s ‘opus 10’.
Haydn listened to the quartets over two occasions in 1785, after which, he commented to Leopold Mozart,’Before God, and as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste, and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition.’
Mozart wrote a dedication page to Haydn upon the set’s publication, presenting the works to the man he called his teacher and best friend, ’Here they are then, O great Man and dearest Friend, these six children of mine. They are, it is true, the fruit of a long and laborious endeavour, yet the hope inspired in me by several Friends that it may be at least partly compensated encourages me, and I flatter myself that this offspring will serve to afford me solace one day.’
The Albion Quartet comprises Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Emma Parker on violins, Ann Beilby, viola, and Nathaniel Boyd, cello.
Waley-Cohen is the artistic director of the Two Moors Festival, which continues at Exmoor from 13 to 16 October.
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