It's unfortunate that Mozart let it be known that he had no liking for the flute, for this has led to some disregard for these quartets and for niceties in their performance. They are mostly, it is true, only chippings from a master's workshop (but not the exquisite slow movement and chirpy finale of the D major Quartet and the second movement of the C major, which is an earlier version of the variation movement of the great Serenade for 13 wind instruments), and all three movements of the A major are based on extraneous material (respectively a Hoffmeister song, a French folk-song and an aria by Paisiello); but this does not stop them making very agreeable listening—though preferably not one work immediately after the other. As if to counter the scorn Einstein poured on the A major Quartet, this receives quite the most affectionate performance on this disc; and the recording throughout is an improvement on Nicolet's previous LP version of the quartets on Tudor/Harmonia Mundi, although a jerk in the rhythm of the second repeat bar in the G major's second movement sueggests an editing slip.
The Franco-Romanian-Japanese team calling itself the Mozart Trio is quite efficient, observes the dynamic markings and shows vivacity in the finale of K285, but might have been a good deal more sensitive in the repeated quavers with which Mozart here often accompanies a solo line, and internal balance would have been improved had its members been more ready to give way to each other.'