Matangi Moments: Mozartiade

Mozart's String Quartet No. 17 in B-flat, KV 458, better known as ‘The Hunt’, owes its nickname to the galloping rhythm and hunting-horn-like motifs in the opening, which evoke a cheerful hunting party in the Viennese countryside. The quartet is one of the six that Mozart dedicated to Haydn: a combination of elegant melodies, playful dialogues, and subtle mastery. Mozart at his most charming.

The British composer Michael Nyman wrote his In Re Don Giovanni in 1984, a characteristic minimalist work built on a short passage from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. With repetitions, shifts, and a hypnotic drive, Nyman shows how an 18th-century fragment could acquire a completely new, contemporary character in the 20th century. A homage and a radical reinterpretation in one.

The String Quintet reveals the deeper, melancholic side of Mozart. It is one of his most intense and dramatic chamber music works, written during a period filled with personal and financial worries. The addition of a second viola gives the quintet a warm, dark color and an almost symphonic depth. Despite the somber undertone, the lightness and beauty that make Mozart so unique ultimately shine through here as well.

YOUNG TALENT
Matangi places great importance on talent development. Therefore, we are proud of our annual collaboration with the Princess Christina Competition. Each year, we award the Matangi Prize to an exceptional musical talent – an honor that during this edition of Matangi Moments goes to violist Charlotte Van Looveren.