2. Coffee Concert

2. Coffee Concert
There is delight in every bar of the six quartets Mozart wrote to impress Papa Haydn, his great friend and mentor. The jaunty opening theme of his ‘Hunt Quartet’ is a classically cheerful way to open a day’s music making. Mozart put intense work into these six quartets and the jovially relaxed exterior hides breathtaking moments of perfection. Nothing in the seemingly straightforward opening movements prepares you for the wonderfully delicate Adagio. The ‘Hoffmeister’ is named after a fellow musician and composer, who had also branched into publishing. The story goes that he undertook the publication of a set of piano quartets by Mozart, but sales of the first one in G minor – too serious, too challenging - were so disastrous that he withdrew from the project. So Mozart composed this D major Quartet as reparation for his losses. It was written directly after the brilliant premiere of Figaro, one of his greatest successes, so no wonder this Quartet opens in bright, clear textures with an unclouded horizon and an Adagio that sings unrestrainedly of the joys of love, concluding with a riotous Finale in Mozart’s best opera buffa style.