Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, German Wind Soloists :: Mozart: Serenade No. 10 ("Gran Partita")

Not the best Naxos CD

Madrok | 01/05/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Mostly, the German Wind Soloists play well, reserved, perhaps. But in the Adagio, the trill from the clarinet is all off. I don't know if it is a difficult trill to play. The rest is OK, not really jaunty enough for this type of Mozart, a bit heavy handed.I like the sound though, quite close miked, a little muddy in the lower register instruments."

Like a refreshing summer breeze.

darragh o'donoghue | 05/18/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The 'Gran Partita' (Serenade no. 10) is arguably Moazrt's most Bach-like composition; its self-generating joy in structure, variation and counterpoint revelling in the possiblilities offered by the wind instruments (oboe, clarinet, basset-horn, French horn, bassoon, double bass) and their interplay. There is a real Baroque spirit, although Mozart is warmer and blither than his master, and the German Wind Soloists seem to get (and give) as much pleasure out of playing the piece as any jazz improvisors, or a seaside brass band. This is not to say Mozart doesn't exploit the characteristic wistfulness of the wind instruments: his Adagio and Romance hauntingly evoke the Romance of 'Einekleinenachtmusik', while the closing Rondo, though rich and exhilirating, has a sleepy, old-world melancholy reminiscent of the the theme music for 'Mapp and Lucia'."

Patchy performance

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 08/30/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Towards the end of the 18th century wind bands appear to have been all en vogue, and not only were "serenades" written for them but also adaptations of well-known opera tunes, the so-called "Harmoniemusiken". Mozart's rather breezy Serenade Number 10 was probably intended for outdoor performance, where the peculiar sound-mixture of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, French horns and basset-horns would sound especially impressive, and in his notes Keith Anderson points out that musicians would have picked a number of movements to play rather than playing the whole work through as we have it on CD.



There appears to be a certain amount of mystery about this particular CD, for it is the only Naxos edition I have yet to see that has no information about where, when or by whom it was recorded. The German Wind Soloists (two each of the above-mentioned instruments plus two extra French horns and a double bass) offer a somewhat patchy performance despite having some illustrious names in their ranks (e.g. bassoonist Klaus Thunemann): the faster movements have a certain irresistible charm about them, and I particularly enjoyed the Allegro molto (Tr. 2), the Romance (Tr. 6) and the Theme with Variations (Tr. 7). However, some of the slower movements sounded rather uninspired and tended to drag on a bit (especially the Adagio, Tr. 4).



The recorded sound is fairly good, although there is an occasional prominence given to the double bass which is possibly slightly off-balance and makes the instrument sound a little gruff. But all in all, this is a useful introduction to Mozart's wind music and has whetted my appetite for more."