A version that competes favorably with any in the catalog
Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 11/16/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Going back to my earliest days as a classical music collector, I have owned more versions of this piece by Mozart -- who was an acquired taste for me, unlike Bach, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky -- than anything else that Koechel fellow cataloged. I'm not sure why that is since the Gran Partita, like much of Mozart, is almost foolproof. It really takes an idiot to foul if up.
Nothing like that goes on here, of course. Alan Gilbert leads his Santa Fe chamber players in the Gran Partita, AKA Serenade No. 10 in B flat major K. 361 from 1781, a composition that is Mozart's most advanced of his divertimenti. In seven relatively brief movements -- none exceeding 8 minutes -- it expresses all the joy, longing, love and romance we come to expect from the world's greatest composer.
This recording was made during a sequence of 2005 concerts and the recording often allows you to hear the players shift between movements. You can occsaionally hear someone breathe or hear a key on an instrument. None of this diminishes the superb unanimity Gilbert gleans from his crack players, who apparently play modern instruments that are in tune and sound marvelous all the time.
What distinguishes the Gilbert-Santa Fe collaboration from other expert readings is their ability to temperamentally readjust throughout the score. It seems to me most groups approach the Gran Partita with inate uniformity -- they either play it fast, slow, relaxed, fiercely, lovingly or casually and make adjustments during movements that adhere to their generic attack.
Gilbert's players are different; they play the average allegro 2-3 points faster than the norm but they never seem impatient. Then, during the exquisitive adagio and romanze sections, they slow way down and allow you to luxuriate in Mozart's moods. And they take the andante that follows the variations in movement six as a true andante -- at a walking pace. I've heard too many good performances of this music where the leader apparently confuses andante with adagio in this section. Purists will be gleeful that Gilbert's forces take all 25 or so repeats in the score.
Three delightful encores, also from concerts by members of the group, fill out a 70-minute CD that any lover of Mozart or wind music will treasure. These performances are so good this recording could stand alone in your collection if you are the kind of person that only keeps one of something. There are other fine recordings of this music -- I'd note among them outstanding verions by the old world Czech Philharmonic members' on Haydn House and the ubiquitous recordings by Orpheus Chamber Ensemble on DG -- but none exceed the warmth, merriment and lifeforce delivered in these concert readings."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1