Fanfare Reviews 
from November/December 2002

Reviews: Mozart

MOZART Serenade in B-Flat, "Gran Partita," K 361 • Charles Mackerras, cond; O of St. Luke's Winds • TELARC 80359 (50:37)

In his youth, Mozart was quick to recognize the tonal capabilities of wind instruments--especially the clarinet--and wrote a number of works for them throughout his tragically short life. These range from relatively brief and lightweight divertimentos to the three great wind serenades, K 361, K 375, and K 388. These belong to a genre known as Harmoniemusik, a form that was extremely popular beginning in the second half of the 18th century and lasting well into the 19th century.

Most of the affluent courts generally maintained their own harmonie; these musicians were responsible for supplying entertainment at various court functions, including banquets. The ensemble varied in size from location to location, but most of the bands consisted of pairs of oboes, bassoons, and horns. In other locales, a pair of clarinets augmented this instrumentation. Initially, this Tafelmusik consisted of arrangements by musicians and composers like Johann Wendt, Joseph Triebensee, and Wenzel Sedlak of excerpts from popular operas by Gluck, Mozart, Hummel, and others. Eventually composers began to supply original compositions for harmonie. These took various forms and sizes (partita, divertimento, cassation, etc.) but none can stand eyeball-to-eyeball without blinking in the presence of the three great wind serenades of Mozart.

The first of these--the Serenade in B-Flat--is the grandest in scope and lasts from 50 to 55 minutes depending on the tempos chosen by the performers. Written for the musicians at the Munich court--it was a sort of musical gratuity for their services in Mozart's opera Idomeneo, re di Creta--the serenade is scored for pairs of oboes, clarinets, basset horns, and bassoons with a quartet of horns and--according to the score--a string bass to strengthen the bottom line. In some performances, the string bass is supplanted by a contrabassoon, but this recording adheres to Mozart's original instrumentation. As an aside, it is worth noting that the first three movements and the ultimate one exist in a version for string quartet. This is Mozart at his finest, masterfully weaving an exquisite tonal tapestry whose colors change with an almost chameleonic and surely enviable ease. The makeup of solos and tutti varies constantly with certain instruments--now oboes, now bassoons coming to the fore to bear their share of the melodic responsibilities and then receding into the pack, allowing another combination to make its unique presence felt.

This release, with renowned Mozartean Sir Charles Mackerras at the helm, not only succeeds in capturing the unique timbre and color of the winds, but also snares perfectly the variety of moods that Mozart sought, ranging from the solemnity of the opening adagio to the crackling good humor and joie d'vivre of the concluding rondo. The ensemble is alert and responsive, and performs as one while shaping and shading the music beautifully. This is Mozart with passion and personality, emotion and élan, and has its own niche in my collection. The sound is benchmark, with nice clarity and a wonderful woody blend; it lives up to the long established and always envied Telarc standards.

Michael Carter

Copyright © 2002 by Fanfare, Inc. Reprinted by permission from Volume 26, No. 2 (November/December 2002), page 202.

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