Felix Klieser / Zemlinsky Quartet

Mozart & Haydn For Horn & String Quartet Felix Klieser / Zemlinsky Quartet

A soloist's career path can often be a lonely one, especially for an exceptional instrumental soloist like Felix Klieser. It is then all the more inspiring when over the course of many years playing together, there is the opportunity to build and nurture close artistic and personal contacts with other musicians. Felix Klieser's concerts with the Prague-based Zemlinsky Quartet therefore are understandably among his annual favorites, as they present an opportunity for the five musicians to come together and to show that many years of music-making together has forged them into much more than just another artistic ensemble. "I have played so much and so often with the Zemlinsky Quartet, and so we wanted to record a program of music together," he explains. What could be more suitable for such a project than Mozart and Haydn? "The Horn Quintet is a real favorite of mine, in fact it may be the piece I like to play most," is the hornist's reaction to Mozart's chamber works for the instrument. He has amply proved that he is very fond indeed of Mozart, having already recorded the Horn Concertos of Wolfgang Amadeus. Now comes the Quintet. "It is such great fun to play this music. It's like being a child in a sweet shop who is told: 'you're allowed to pick up anything and you can eat as much as you like.' You go tumbling from one mood into another, interchanging between unbounded jubilation and deepest despair in the space of two bars; you really have to be on your toes - it's intensive stuff."