If the Arioso Quartett Wien, founded in 1994 and with a nearly unchanged lineup ever since, were to have a motto, it might be that....

If the Arioso Quartett Wien, founded in 1994 and with a nearly unchanged lineup ever since, were to have a motto, it might be that. “Arioso” means “pertaining to the voice” but also “sonorous”. The name, as it were, says it all. But which sound is the desirable one? What’s the sound-ideal? The oft-quoted “Wiener Klang”, that particular way in which Viennese ensembles interpret orchestral and chamber music, is hard to define. What is it exactly – and is it really a thing? This ensemble is convinced: it does exist. But it doesn’t so much refer to externalities – where the bow hits the strings, for example, or how much pressure is used or whether and what specific vibrato is employed. Nor does it need fancy, expensive instruments (although they certainly don’t hurt). Hearsay has it, that members of American orchestras were often surprised that an orchestra can sound so good after they inspected the relatively “cheap” string instruments of their Viennese colleagues.

“Wiener Klang” really is more about an attitude - the way one approaches music. This includes taking into account the personal circumstances of the composer, their emotional and physical constitution at the time of writing the work in question, their mentality (to the extent that letters or eyewitness accounts have told us anything about that), and the surroundings in which the work at hand had been written.