String Quartet in C, K. 465 (Dissonance)

If the appeal of K. 155 resides in its refreshing simplicity, the same cannot be said for his expansive “Dissonance” Quartet in C Major, K. 465. I do not mean that K. 465 lacks delightful tunes or familiar tonal signposts. The Andante cantabile, in particular, moves between light and dark expressive moods with beautiful logic; and the finale’s glib theme provides a welcome comic infusion. But the thematic development, especially in the opening movement, is so thoroughgoing that the ear cannot always keep pace. Mozart was firing on all cylinders. A great deal has been written about the slow introduction, from Mozart’s day to our own. Let me only add that behind the pointillist, contemplative mood lurks a brilliantly simple strategy: a fugue arrangement, with the subject presented in the viola, followed by successive imitations in violin II and violin I at the intervals of the fifth and octave, respectively. The introduction sounds 200 years behind its time, echoing the pungent cross relations characteristic of Renaissance madrigals, but also centuries ahead of its time in making rapid passage through the complete twelve-tone pitch set.

(c) Jason Stell