The significance of the fugue in the generally melody-oriented and even frilly late 18th century is a subject about which an entire book has been written, and it makes a good focus for a string quartet recital. The Rincontro Quartet, a group of European historical-performance players specializing in the Classical era, successfully executes the idea here. What makes the subject tricky is that composers of the time wrote fugues for a variety of reasons. One was sheer fascination; the example of Mozart, who took himself to the ...
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The significance of the fugue in the generally melody-oriented and even frilly late 18th century is a subject about which an entire book has been written, and it makes a good focus for a string quartet recital. The Rincontro Quartet, a group of European historical-performance players specializing in the Classical era, successfully executes the idea here. What makes the subject tricky is that composers of the time wrote fugues for a variety of reasons. One was sheer fascination; the example of Mozart, who took himself to the woodshed with Bach's fugues, is particularly interesting, and a pair of Mozart's string quartet arrangements of Bach is included here. The influence of the diplomat and Bach connoisseur Gottfried van Swieten, who helped introduce Mozart to Bach and Handel, was also relevant. The booklet (in French and English) stresses Joseph II's fondness for the fugue form, perhaps a bit too much, for of the composers represented only Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Haydn's friend and Beethoven's...
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