String Quartet No. 21 in D major, K. 575
String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat major, K. 589
String Quartet No. 23 in F major, K. 590

From the time they began playing together, the members of the Engegard Quartet have worked with Mozart’s string quartets. Now, ten years later, the results can be heard on the quartet’s first release on the LAWO Classics label. The album features the three “Prussian Quartets”, the last that Mozart wrote, in 1789 and 1790. The nickname comes from King Frederick William II of Prussia, to whom Mozart had intended to dedicate the pieces a plan not realised when they were published. There is some doubt as to whether it was really the King who commissioned the works, but Mozart had him in mind in any case when he wrote them. And to make them appealing to the King, who was a competent cello player, special attention was paid to the cello part. This music is, however, not only about the cello. The quartets are intricately structured to provide room for all four parts and allow them all to enjoy equal prominence. Formed under the midnight sun in Lofoten in 2006, the Engegard Quartet has rapidly become one of Norway’s most sought-after ensembles. Their bold, fresh interpretations of the classical repertoire combined with a deep attachment to their Scandinavian roots has attracted international acclaim and inspired some innovative partnerships and programming.

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Recorded in Solsiden Church, Fredrikstad, 29 November - 3 December 2015