The Alexander String Quartet to Release Third Volume of Mozart Chamber Music Recordings

The Alexander String Quartet continues its series of Mozart's chamber music with Volume Three, featuring the String Quintets with the ASQ's violist emeritus Paul Yarbrough. This installment follows the 2018 and 2019 releases of the late string quartets and piano quartets (with Joyce Yang). Both recordings received critical acclaim (“These are by far, hands down and feet up, the most amazing performances of Mozart's two piano quartets that have ever graced these ears.” –Fanfare).

Mozart composed his first String Quintet at the age of 17 and his last in the year of his death, so it might seem that he wrote string quintets across the span of his career, but that is not the case. His first quintet was a foray into new territory for the young composer, and then Mozart set the form aside for fourteen years — his final five quintets were all created in the last four years of his life.

As such, they represent some of his most sophisticated musical thinking. They offer wonderful music, exhilarating to hear (and to play!), sometimes very moving, and always very beautiful. In his quintets, Mozart did not set out to make the viola the star, but the addition of the extra viola offered him a broader canvas and unlocked new possibilities.

His quintets generate a richer, fuller sound....and they offer increased opportunities to contrast different groupings of instruments and sonorities....(two of these quintets are among his longest chamber works, longer in fact than any of his symphonies). -From the liner notes by Eric Bromberger

About the Alexander String Quartet:

Among the world's premier ensembles, the Alexander String Quartet has performed in the major music capitals of five continents — a vital artistic presence in its home base of San Francisco, ASQ has served since 1989 as Ensemble in Residence of San Francisco Performances. Widely admired for interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, and Shostakovich, the quartet's recordings have won international critical acclaim.

Founded in New York in 1981, the ensemble quickly captured attention, winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition in 1982, and then becoming the first American quartet to win the London (now Wigmore) International String Quartet Competition in 1985. ASQ has performed at Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y, the Metropolitan Museum, Jordan Hall, and Library of Congress, appearing as guests at Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Lewis & Clark, UCLA, and more.

hey have established themselves as advocates of new music, regularly commissioning new works from composers including Jake Heggie, Cindy Cox, Augusta Read Thomas, Robert Greenberg, Cesar Cano, Tarik O'Regan, Paul Siskind, Pulitzer Prize winner Wayne Peterson, and Samuel Carl Adams. ASQ is the subject of the award-winning documentary: Con Moto: The Alexander String Quartet (2017).