About the Work
 There is no doubt that during 2006 there will be few notes by Mozart left unplayed, and string quartets will ensure that this particular branch of his output will be no exception, there being 23 bona fide quartets, as well as a number of smaller pieces which also qualify for inclusion – virtually all of them familiar, and hardly in need of the opportunity for special pleading which an anniversary year can offer. So we have turned to something more off the beaten track. The story of the provenance of the Requiem is well known – and much romanticised. What is perhaps not known is that a younger acquaintance and one-time pupil made a version of the Requiem for string quartet, taking as his starting point the edition by Franz Xaver Süssmayr. There would have been nothing strange or unusual about such a version: until the arrival of radio and recording the principal means of getting to know new works – especially if live concerts were not easily accessible – was to play them oneself. And so many large scale pieces would also be published for domestic consumption. Lichtenthal was actually a good friend of Mozart’s son Karl; and although he composed a considerable amount of music in various genres and produced writings of significance he was actually a medic by profession, later moving from Vienna to Milan to take up a post for the Italian government. His reduction of the Requiem, along with much of his other musical work, is preserved in the conservatoire library there, and we are most grateful to them for making it available. (copyright Alan George, 2006)