Domus, Richard Hosford - Mozart: Piano Quartets, Kegelstatt Trio (1991) CD-Rip

This recording is over 20 years old, so it's hard to believe that it hasn't been reviewed yet. Domus is long gone, and its members have morphed into the Florestan Trio, but it was a great group, and by the time they recorded these Mozart pieces, they had been together for a dozen years. The music is mature Mozart, roughly contemporaneous with "Le Nozze di Figaro" (1785), and it's superbly played and recorded here. Just as sound, I was taken with the recording of the "Kegelstat" Trio (for piano, viola, and clarinet), where the instruments seem in perfect balance and the charm of the piece, with its lovely minuet/trio second movement, comes through well. As always, the pianist Susan Tomes excels -- I think that she's a great pianist, for all her apparent refusal of a solo career, and it's good to hear the viola to somewhat more advantage than one usually does in quartets. Timothy Boulton plays beautifully, as does Richard Hosford, an excellent clarinetist.

The two piano quartets were composed fairly closely together but each has its own distinct character. The second, K.493, is amiable, for all the richness of texture and gracefulness of thematic material. The K. 478 seems to require more virtuosity from the players and has a rather more troubled first movement than the second quartet -- but it's all very accessible music, and with over 76 minutes on a single disc, a great bargain. I picked mine up for $4.00! There are other fine recordings of these pieces out there, but this is as good as any.