The members of the Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Höbarth, Andrea Bischof, Anita Mitterer and Christophe Coin, met in Vienna when they were playing with Concentus Musicus Wien, and it was the great names of the classical Viennese repertoire that brought them together as a quartet.
Right from the beginning of the Quartet’s career in 1985, the Mosaïques performances were marked by both a new clarity stemming from their use of period instruments, and a poetic attention to detail that was typical of the central European tradition of chamber music.
The Mosaïques have forged ahead ever since, concentrating on the core of the classical repertoire with Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven.
The approach of the Quatuor Mosaïques strikes a balance between unity of style and the multiplicity of elements that go to make up that style. Works may thus be read on several levels, revealing the richness of the key repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Quatuor Mosaïques uses the same thorough approach when it comes to French music (Hyacinthe and Louis-Emmanuel Jadin) and the Italian repertoire (Boccherini). To extend its possibilities, the Quartet has also teamed up with artists such as Wolfgang Meyer (clarinet), José Miguel Moreno (guitar), Miklos Perenyi and Roel Dieltens (cello), Patrick Cohen and András Schiff (fortepiano, piano).
The Quatuor Mosaïques is regularly invited to perform at prestigious venues such as the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Théâtre de la Ville and Radio France in Paris, as well as at many of the great music festivals:
• Austria (Wiener Festwochen, Resonanzen, Salzburger Festspiele, Styriarte, the Schubertiade in Feldkirch, Mondsee),
• Great Britain (Edinburgh, Aldeburgh),
• Switzerland (Luzern, Amadeus),
• Germany (Leipzig, Berlin, Bonn, Schleswig-Holstein),
• France (Aix-en-Provence, La Roque d’Anthéron)…
Collaborating with the Keller, Hagen, Vogler and New Leipzig Quartets, the ensemble has performed in complete Beethoven string quartets cycles in several major European cities, thus further extending its international influence.
The Quatuor Mosaïques discography on the Astrée label reflects the main lines of the ensemble’s career. All the quartets recordings have been unanimously acclaimed by the critics, and they have won numerous prizes including Gramophone Awards for their recordings of Haydn’s Opus 20 and for Haydn’s Opus 33.
Last recordings : Beethoven String quartets op. 18 n°1 & 4 (Naïve, 2005). Beethoven String quartets op. 18 n° 2 & 3 (Naïve, 2007).
