Britain's
Chilingirian Quartet, with the addition of second violist
Yuko Inoue, here offers distinctive interpretations of two
Mozart chamber works for which there is no shortage of good recordings. The program, to begin with, is slightly unusual. The String Quintet in G minor, K. 516, is usually joined with its natural partner, the sunnier and rather symphonic String Quintet in C major, K. 515, but the
Chilingirian opts instead for the String Quintet in C minor, K. 406, another tragic work. The C minor quintet was arranged by
Mozart himself from the Serenade for winds in C minor, K. 388, and intended as part of a set of three quintets to include the C major work. The result here is an hour of intensely dark
Mozart, but the Chilingirian reins in the frantic quality so often given to these works. It manages the considerable feat of generating highly emotional performances without recourse to making the music sound like
Schumann. Hear the very beginning of the K. 516 quintet, with its almost halting opening leading the listener into the music. The group's restraint is even more apparent in the arrangement of the serenade, whose original would certainly not have seemed restrained on the wind instruments of
Mozart's era. Yet this performance, too, is convincing. The fugal minuet de-emphasizes the sudden rhythmic shifts in favor of the longer line, which holds together in a series of shifting emotions. The entire program seems to contain a variety of uncanny moods that deepen in detail on repeated hearings. Recommended and memorable.