A rehabilitation of “the arrangement“ has taken place over the past two decades, a process which would surely have pleased all classical composers, who would never have understood the reasons for its temporary fall from grace in the first place.
The present set of three string quartets, published in Vienna in 1799 by André, are arranged from two violin sonatas and a piano trio; a certain independence is noticeable in the anonymous arranger, but the result is three strikingly effective new quartets to add to the Mozart oeuvre which will delight all players familiar with the originals and prove a gracious alternative to quartets who look for some escape from the familiar and over-exposed repertoire.
