King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia was a cousin (uncle-signor) of the legendary
Frederick the Great. In the spring of 1789, Mozart visited the Prussian court. The cello-playing king honored Mozart with a commission for six string quartets, only three of which were composed. KV.575 was completed in June, after which Mozart began work on KV.589. Then the project lay dormant for nearly 11 months
… because of the production of Così fan tutte. It was not until May 1790 that Mozart completed KV.589. KV.590 followed a month later. They were not published until after Mozart's death, incidentally without a dedication to the king. '... on their new album, the members of the Chiaroscuro Quartet know how to capture the autumnal, sonorous character of the quartets wonderfully,' says de Volkskrant (four stars out of five). (HJ)more
