Search - Mozart :: The Complete Mozart Divertimentos: Historic First Recorded Edition: CD 2

This second of six CDs containing the complete set of Mozart Divertimentos, the only recording ever made of this repertoire, contains Divertimentos Nos. 4, 16, and 7. The program is extraordinarily varied, starting with a ten-wind group in a brilliant key. Divertimento No. 7 is the first of five that Mozart wrote for strings and two horns. The ensemble is led by violinist Felix Galimir, liner notes by famed scholar and pianist Robert Levin. Also available as part of a six-CD boxed set, containing the entire Divertimento collection. The Divertimento No. 4 is remarkable for its brevity and thematic neutrality. In fact, it is amazing that the work is so attractive, given the prevalence of chugging accompaniment sections in which no melody at all appears above the garrulous succession of harmonies. The boisterous extension of the final cadence gives a suitable ending to one of Mozart?s most high-spirited works. Starting in the late 1970s the authenticity of the Divertimento No. 16, long seen as the last of the set of six banquet sextets, has been sharply challenged. As the present recording of K. 289 was made before these claims began, it has been included here and allows the listener to make a personal judgment on its status. The Divertimento No. 7 is one of the most immediately ingratiating pieces of the entire series. It is the first of the divertimenti for strings with two horns. Apart from the general role of the horns, which is to support the harmonic and rhythmic texture, their most characteristic writing in Mozart consists of the pedal tones?long notes held through changes of harmony, producing both beauty of sonority and harmonic stability. The grace of the previously heard march concludes the work with appropriate ceremony. © 2002 Robert Levin