Quatuor Mosaïques

The Quatuor Mosa├»ques is an Austrian string quartet, founded in 1987 by four members of the Concentus Musicus Wien, playing on historical musical instruments. They specialize in music of the 18th century and their Haydn recordings have received critical acclaim, including several Gramophone Awards. The three Austrian musicians and the French cellist Christophe Coin got to know each other in Vienna as members of Nikolaus HarnoncourtÔ[][]s Concentus Musicus. With their shared experiences as a starting point, they decided to form a classical string quartet playing on period instruments. The primary aim was not to create the sort of Ô[][]authenticityÔ[][] that belongs in museums, but rather to ensure in their work a living link to the great European quartet tradition. Hence an essential inspiration for the group was the V├®gh Quartet, of which Erich H├Âbarth had been a member for its last three years. The ultimate objective of each interpretation must be to reveal the inner spiritual wealth of the music: Ô[][]In a mosaic, every detail is seen to have been brilliantly thought out, yet the eye is also capable of apprehending the picture as a whole. It is the same with music: you have to work on the details, then you have to create the best possible listening conditions, and get the distance just right so that the listener can see how the elements have been put together, and at the same time get a complete view of the work of art.Ô[][] (Christophe Coin) The Quatuor Mosa├»ques is regularly described as one of the leading string quartets of the present day. This is backed up by its many award-winning performances. The ensemble has received the prestigious Gramophone Award repeatedly for its interpretations of Haydn, for example. It gives concerts with pianists Andr├ís Schiff and Patrick Cohen, clarinettists Wolfgang and Sabine Meyer, and cellists Mikl├│s P├®renyi and Raphael Pidoux.