Classical Music

This album is an all-too-rare recording of Mozart's Gran Partita in a contemporary arrangement for fortepiano, oboe and string trio. The arrangement, made by Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke, is a pure masterpiece for it's sonic effectiveness and for it's successful coherence in representing Mozart's ideas. Ewald Demeyere has taken part in many recordings and is principally interested in the influence of theories from the Baroque era and performing on period instruments.

W.A. Mozart grew up in a musical environment. His father, Leopold Mozart, was a composer, performer and theoretician. Leopold gave his children musical tuition and guidance, also encouraging composition from an early age. Wolfgang write his first compositions- an Andante and an Allegro for piano- at the age of five. Leopold mounted an elaborate publicity campaign in order to win renown for his prodigious children throughout Europe. The younger they were the greater the sensation. Thus, setting off with them, Leopold visited the musical centers of the time. In 1764 they arrived in London, where Wolfgang composed his first Symphony in E flat K 16, assisted by his father and influenced by J. C. Bach. His initial symphonies are clearly experiments, but they are nevertheless well-crafted, fullfledged, miniature works. Leopold Mozart was a composer of an entirely different caliber than his son. His conscious aim was to write simple, understandable music. In his time, “the ordinary man” had started becoming interested in composed music. Since the level of the amateurs was not such that they were able to perform the virtuosic music of the court ensembles, a demand rose for more simple music. Leopold filled this gap. Leopold often used uncommon instruments to give additional color to his music. An example is Die Bauernhochzeit, which draws on a set of bagpipes. In addition, the musicians have to cheer and clap. Leopold also supplemented many of his scores with simple indications for performance. A typical example of the above is Cassatio ex G ‘mit der Kindersinfonie.’

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

L. MOZART Symphonies: in C, C 1; in D, D 17; in D, D 1; in G, G 14; in C, C 4; in D, D 25 • Matthias Bamert, cond; London Mozart Players • CHANDOS 10496 (68:20)


By my count, the current release is number 22 in Chandos’s ongoing series titled, “Contemporaries of Mozart,” a collection that has included symphonies by Clementi, Krommer, Michael Haydn, Carl Stamitz, Pleyel, Vanhal, Kozeluch, Hoffmeister, Cannabich, Franz Xaver Richter, and a dozen others. In some cases, “contemporaries” is a bit of a stretch; yet it could be argued that all of these composers contributed to the early stage evolution of the taxonomic genus we call “symphony.”


Of the specimens on this disc, three of the six (C 1, D 1, and C 4), all dating from the mid to late 1750s, are already in four movements and in a sequence of Allegro, Minuet and Trio, Andante, Presto. Interestingly, the order of the two inner movements would be reversed in the later and fully developed symphonies of Haydn and Leopold’s Wunderkind , Wolfgang, and would remain thus until Beethoven reversed them once again in his Ninth.


The other three symphonies heard here (D 17, G 14, and D 25) are in the three-movement sinfonia format (fast-slow-fast) quite common to the period. Typical, too, is the modest scoring of two violins, viola, bass (cello), and two horns, the viola being dispensed with altogether in D 1. If actually performed with these forces, one would be hard-pressed to distinguish between such a work and one categorized as chamber music. But it is likely that in performance the strings were beefed up in numbers, so that two violins likely became first and second violin sections of perhaps four players each, and the violas and cellos were both augmented to two each.


What would be born at full term as sonata-allegro form is here still in its fetal stage, with contrasting middle sections in the minor key appearing as the limbs that would grow into secondary themes and development sections. Also a prenatal feature is the virtually indistinguishable character between first and last movement allegros and prestos. First movements would subsequently slow down, expand, and take on a weight and gravitas quite different from the lighter, frothier, high-spirited last movements. All of this adds up to Leopold Mozart’s symphonies—at least those presented on this disc—falling squarely into the pre-Classical period well represented by many of the other composers in Chandos’s anthology that traces the beginnings and development of the symphony from the stil galant and the Mannheim school through the early essays in the form by Wolfgang Mozart and Franz Joseph Haydn.


Readers who have been irritated by my selective opposition to HIP may take some comfort in knowing that I am perfectly happy to hear works such as these played on period instruments; for in music of this timeframe, I find period instruments completely appropriate. Collectors of this Chandos series, however, will know that the London Mozart Players, founded in 1949 by Harry Blech as the U.K.’s first official chamber orchestra, is a modern-instruments ensemble, so that those looking for period-instruments performances of these works will need to look elsewhere. Unfortunately, there is at present nowhere else to look. Of the specific symphonies on this disc, there is only one listed recording of each, and this is it.


Happily, the London Mozart Players is a well-disciplined, professionally polished band; and under its leader, Matthias Bamert, dispatches its duties with élan. Even I must admit, however, that the ensemble is too large in numbers—or perhaps Chandos’s slightly over-reverberant recording makes it sound thus—for these performances really do strike me as somewhat bloated and brassy sounding. I wonder if Leopold Mozart would recognize these readings of his own works. If you’ve acquired previous volumes in this series, you will know what to expect. But HIPsters are hereby cautioned.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

There are 17 one-movement instrumental compositions known to have been composed by Mozart designated as either “Church sonatas” or “Epistle sonatas. The charming miniatures were a specialty of Salzburg, although only Mozart could afford the luxury of composing his own pieces. From his predecessors and colleagues in Salzburg no works of this type have been preserved. Organist and composer Zsigmond Szathmáry arranged the pieces for organ solo, which showcases this little known music by Mozart with a colorful new sound.

Classical Music