This second volume of Septura’s brass chamber music series takes us back to the 17th century and the music of Baroque opera, in four contrasting works by Rameau, Blow, Purcell and Handel. The astounding variety in content, colour and character of the originals demands especially inventive arrangements, and these pieces are vividly brought to life by incorporating stylistic elements from ‘period performance’. The exhilarating result is a stunningly virtuosic set of new Baroque works for brass.

What if four celebrated nineteenth-century composers—Mendelssohn, Schumann, Bruckner and Brahms—had written original works for brass septet? This disc explores that fascinating counterfactual twist, re-imagining choral and organ works by those composers. The arrangements call on the full dynamic and tonal range of the instruments—often extended with a multitude of mutes—to imitate the expressivity of the choir, the power of the organ, and the versatile sonorities of its different registrations and manuals. In dazzling and varied combinations the arrangers and performers together persuade us that this could indeed be original brass chamber music.

MUFFAT: Concerti Grossi Nos. 7 - 12

MUFFAT: Concerti Grossi Nos. 1 - 6

This program, three Mozart Divertimentos and the searching C minor wind Serenade K. 388, balances light-hearted entertainment-genre works against the darkly passionate utterances of the latter. The Oslo players favor rapid, agile tempos in the lively Allegro of K. 227 and in the zestful finale (Presto) of K. 252. Their direct and forceful style, highlighted by pointed articulation and tonguing, seems ideal. The recording picks up some key-noise, especially in running passages--an annoyance for some, heightened realism and immediacy for others. This brisk, punchy approach gives unexpected rigor to the minuets, but also contributes to a highly imaginative account of the stylish variations that (unusually) open the F major Divertimento K. 253. The two bassoons, who have important roles here, are excellent.


In the C minor Serenade, the closely focused sonics significantly bolster the urgent, impulsive manner of the performance. After the incisive unison start, the first movement is thrusting and dramatic, with dynamics carefully observed and maximal contrast attained in the radiant second subject, highlighted by superb phrasing from the first oboe. The Andante is capably done, but more coolly than in the performance by Consortium Classicum on EMI, where there's more individuality and distinctiveness from denser-toned clarinets and softer-edged horns.


The Oslo recording, with its clearer perspectives, makes canonic writing in the vehement Minuet terse and austere-sounding, but you may prefer Consortium Classicum's more genial and imaginative characterizations of the finale's variations. Finally, the Oslo winds' lively, bustling account of the last variation, in bright tonic major, is quicker and also more brilliant, completing a fine budget release. [6/11/2002]
--Michael Jameson, ClassicsToday.com

MOZART: Violin Sonatas, Vol. 1

When he was eight years old Mozart wrote a series of duo sonatas sanctioned for violin or flute and keyboard. Written in London, they were dedicated to Queen Charlotte. The sonatas performed on this disc were written much later for violin but, using that earlier precedent, have been transcribed for flute by one of the world’s greatest exponents of the instrument, Patrick Gallois. Memorably tuneful, they represent different stages of Mozart’s development and are beautifully suited to their new guise.

Listen to the Naxos Podcast to learn more about this release

Mozart wrote his Violin Concertos in 1775 while still living in his home town of Salzburg and in service to Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. Mozart had already toured internationally and found his parochial environment restricting, but as ever he rose above circumstances to create sublime and thrillingly unconventional masterpieces filled with wit and elegant charm. The finely sustained melodic expression of each concerto’s slow center provides the perfect foil for inventive sparkle in outer movements that include a cheeky reference to the opera Il re pastore in K.216 to an exotic ‘Turkish’ moment in the finale of K. 219.

Reviews:

In the Fourth Concerto, there’s a lovely singing character to the central Andante, Kraggerud producing a variety of tone which matches the changing intensity of the line. Here, as in all the concertos, he plays his own cadenzas, which are stylish in the best sense, and show off his technique.

– BBC Music Magazine

The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra has something of a reputation for working harmoniously with guest soloist-directors, not least among them Leif Ove Andsnes in concertos by Mozart and Haydn. Their strength lies in the collaborative approach dictated by their modest dimensions and conductorless set-up. Those discs with Andsnes were conspicuously successful, both artistically and critically, and this new project with Henning Kraggerud is no less winning. While these are brisk, no-nonsense performances after the contemporary fashion, the thinking that underpins their shaping right from the very beginning makes these readings of the Third, Fourth and Fifth concertos worth returning to.

– Gramophone

Mozart: Romantic Mozart (The)

The complete performance of "Magic Flute" from which these excerpts were taken are available as Naxos 8-660030/1.

MOZART: Symphonies Nos. 36, 33 and 27

MOZART: Symphonies Nos. 1 - 5

The performances of the Northern Chamber Orchestra under Nicholas Ward are consistently stylish and engaged.

– Classic CD

Neat, polished performances from a fine English orchestra splendidly recorded.

– Gramophone

MOZART (arr. Hummel) Symphonies Nos. 38–40 • Uwe Grodd (fl); Friedemann Eichhorn (vn); Martin Rummel (vc); Roland Krüger (pn) • NAXOS 8.572841 (75: 29)

Early in his life—specifically, before he was even 10 years old—Johann Nepomuk Hummel lived and studied with Mozart, and is likely to have had extensive exposure to the elder composer’s musical “workshop,” if you will. As flutist Uwe Grodd’s booklet notes recount, Hummel never lost his deep respect for Mozart and his music. In 1823 and 1824, when he was commissioned to prepare arrangements of Mozart’s symphonies for the combination of flute, violin, viola, and piano, Hummel remained faithful to the original scores, in the sense that he did not alter harmonies or extend cadenzas, even after he had been asked to. He did, however, use a broader palette of dynamic markings than Mozart himself used. Mozart did not often use extreme dynamic markings or ask players to use crescendo effects … perhaps because he assumed that sensitive performers could be trusted to insert them themselves? In his chamber arrangements of Mozart’s symphonies, Hummel was very specific and more liberal with dynamic markings. He also added precise metronome markings, accents, and varied ornaments to be more in keeping with the customs of the era. (For example, Hummel’s trills begin on the main note, not on the note above it, as in Mozart’s time.) One cannot assume too much about the metronome markings, however, as the metronome in Hummel’s time was not as accurate as it would later become. Also, one would not necessarily perform a chamber arrangement at the same tempos as the orchestral original—the former’s lighter textures might make faster tempos possible, and even advisable.

Of course these arrangements do not take the place of the orchestral originals, nor were they meant to. In the era before recorded music, Hummel’s arrangements gave talented amateurs a means of access to Mozart’s symphonies when an orchestra might not have been available. There are more of them than the three recorded here, so perhaps this is the first volume in a series. I am not aware of any comprehensive collection of Hummel’s Mozart arrangements, so such a series would be welcome, particularly when the performances are as engaging as these. Like the arrangements themselves, these performances (which use new editions by Grodd) are faithful to Mozart’s originals, but also sensitive to the cultural circumstances under which Hummel prepared them. Thus (for example), the G-Minor Symphony is not the profoundly dark and disquieting work that it can be, when it is performed by an orchestra, but its intimate dimensions help the work to get under the listener’s skin in a perhaps more subtle way. This is Mozart in a more social, more polite guise, but it is no less enjoyable. Rather than acquiring yet another recording of these works in their original versions, listeners who love this music might enjoy hearing them as they are performed here. In fact, I feel quite certain that they will. Recommended.

FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle