Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
I have just posted this transcription on Klassic Haus Restorations. The Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E-flat major, K. 364, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. At the time of its composition in 1779, Mozart was on a tour of Europe that included Mannheim and Paris. The composition’s complex orchestral dynamics reflects the increasing technical competence of the European orchestra of that era and was strongly influenced by Mozart’s visit to the Mannheim court orchestra during his European tour of 1777 to 1779. Mozart had been experimenting with the Sinfonia concertante genre and this work can be considered his most successful realization in this cross-over genre between Symphony and Concerto. The piece is scored in three movements for solo violin, solo viola, two oboes, two horns, and strings, the latter including two sections of violas. The solo viola part is written in D major instead of E flat major, and the instrument tuned a semitone sharper (scordatura technique), to give a more brilliant tone. This technique is uncommon when performed on the modern viola and is used mostly in performance on original instruments.
The Concertone (grand concerto) K. 190 for 2 violins, ‘cello and oboe was a product of the 17-year-old Mozart, adapting the aesthetics of the divertimento, was actually the first original and independent concerto of Mozart, written before the first genuine piano concerto (K. 175; the Köchel numbers are incorrect!). It is not performed as often as the Sinfonie Concertante, but deserves a better fate, for it is full of youthful charm.
Karl Ristenpart supports his soloists with the usual attention to detail and superb sense of line and pulse. This particular recording is an early Erato stereo transcription found on a Musical Heritage Society LP from 1966, so there is a bit more background hiss than the later Club Français du Disque recordings; but it still full-bodied and warm.
The Symphony in D is an arrangement of the “Posthorn” Serenade, and was possibly first heard in Vienna at one of Mozart’s “Akademien”. Günter Wand leads the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne in a stylish performance; this recording is from an unopened, late pressing Nonesuch disc.
I have just finished a transcription on “The Art of The Baroque Trumpet” with Edward Tarr, from another Nonesuch LP from 1969. I will post it later in the week.
Thanks for checking in! – Curt Timmons
