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"I enjoyed these performances of two enchanting works very much indeed and the recording is ideal for chamber music. Comparisons are very difficult but this set will certainly be to hand when I want a fresh approach. There are good detailed notes by Pat O’Kelly on the musical background and brief biographies of the players. All in all, a great success." - MusicWeb International Mozart’s Piano Quartets date from the mid 1780s – a period that also brought, among many other things, five of his major piano concerti (D minor K. 466; C major K. 467; E flat major K. 482; A major K. 488 & C minor K. 491), two important string quartets (including the Dissonance K. 465), and his opera Le nozze di Figaro. While there were earlier incursions by less well-remembered figures into the piano quartet repertoire, it took Mozart to raise its status on to an unprecedented plateau. In his two quartets he found a way of giving each instrument - violin, viola, cello and piano - its rightful sense of independence. According to the composer’s own catalogue, the K. 478 Quartet was completed on 16th October 1785 and was among a number of works requested by the Viennese publisher, Franz Anton Hoffmeister, who was also a composer. In it Mozart treats his four instrumentalists as equals, with the concerto-like piano part well balanced against the continuously interesting string writing. Finghin Collins leads these Piano Quartets. The pianist has made a significant contribution to the musical landscape of his native Ireland, where he resides. Since 2013, he has been Artistic Director of Music for Galway, which will present the major classical programme of Galway 2020, European Capital of Culture. He is also the founding Artistic Director of the New Ross Piano Festival, which celebrates its 15th edition in 2020, as well as the founding co-Artistic Director of the International Master Course at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.