The Signum Quartett makes the magic of Mozart come alive

Had the good fortune of attending a western classical music concert featuring Mozart’s compositions tonight  The concert happened at the Music Academy as a feature of the  November fest. The concert assumes additional significance due to this year being the 250th birth anniversary of Mozart. We were in the hall half hour ahead of time to get a good seat. The hall was half empty at that time and we thought maybe Chennai people don’t like western classical.  Boy, were we wrong. The entire hall was filled by the time the concert started. The Signum Quartett is considered to be one of the best in Germany. The team consists of  Kerstin Dill and Annette Walther on the violin, Valentin Eichler on the viola and Thomas Schmitz on the cello. They started with Mozart’s string quartet in F Major (K 168).  It was a great performance and set the tone for the evening. This was followed by the amazing string quartet in D Minor (K 421). Apparently, Mozart composed this as his wife was in the next room delivering their baby. The final composition is considered to be amongst the best known of Mozart’s string quartets – K465 in C Major.  It is also known as “Dissonance” due to its disquieting opening chords. It was a fitting finale to the concert. The audience was moved so much that we gave a standing ovation. At this point, the audience asked for an encore. The artists obliged and we sat back down again to listen to an Italian serenade. By now, you could see the artists bubbling with emotions and pride and gave us another memorable performance. The Chennai audience proved once again that music knows no boundaries. Some tidbits collected from the compere who was none other than GV Ramakrishna (famous as a voice over for documentaries, TV shows etc). 1. Mozart started composing at the age of 4 when he composed Twinkle Twinkle Little star. 2. Like many geniuses who died in their 30s, Mozart dies at the age of 35.  3. Mozart was ambidexterous and notably he could write out 2 different compositions using both his hands simultaneously. 4. Mozart had a fancy for the game of Billiards.  During a game he would attempt a long shot covering all the sides of the board and by the time the ball returned to the cue, he would complete composing one movement of a composition (a a typical movement lasts a few minutes)!