Ron Chaplin wrote:

>Schubert, mainly because, like the Mozart, the recording was inexpensive.
>I remember listening to it and being immediately turned off by Quartet
>No. 14 in d, Op. Posth., "Death and the Maiden".  Too dissonant for my
>inexperienced ears, two clashing, disjointed.  Listening to it now, I am
>blown away.  Whatta piece!  And what a difference in the performances!

I hope that one day you will experience the same "epiphany" with Mozart's
last 10 string quartets (the six "Haydn" and the remaining four).  Try
Alban Berg Quartet on Teldec.

>It seems to me that Schubert put much more into his quartet than Mozart,
>which seem facile, almost knock-offs compared to the Schubert.

I can't argue with somebody's impression, and the evidence that Mozart put
a great lot of work into every string quartet and quintet is not what makes
them great, but I hope that after more listening you won't ever think that
Mozart's quartets are facile or not memorable.  Nonetheless, "knock-offs"
they are not - the sketches we have testify to the truthfulness of Mozart's
statement that the set of 6 quartets dedicated to Haydn was a "frutto di
una longa e laboriosa fatica".  He did work hard on them, harder than on
many, probably most, works.  Actually, I will argue with the "facile"
impression, because there is nothing of this kind in the contrapuntal
finales of some of the quartets (K. 387 in G major, for instance).  Nor
is the famous "dissonant" introduction to K. 465 in C major "facile" -
its harmony is highly sophisticated.

>Soooooo, I was wondering if it would be a useful exercise to discuss which
>genre (orchestral, instrumental, chamber, vocal, opera, etc.) a composer
>excelled in.  Which form should I listen to begin to really experience the
>essence of the composers work?

Mozart's string quartets *and* quintets are undoubtedly among his best
works.  Specifically, the last ten quartets and the five quintets.  (The
early 13 quartets and the early quintet K. 174 are still close to the
divertimento genre - if it was a genre - that is, pleasant rather than
sophisticated.) Add to that the Clarinet Quintet K. 581 and the String
Trio K. 563, as well as the chamber music with piano, and you have
examples of the best chamber music ever written.  This kind of music was
written for conoisseurs and fellow musicians, and Mozart didn't disappoint
them.  All I can recommend is to listen more to those works.

-Margaret

 [Oh, it's so nice to have Margaret back.  -Dave]