Mozart in Period Performances (HIP)

[Brian]

Isn't Helios the budget label for Hyperion?

Yes.

[Gurn Blanston]

King's is now on Helios. That's all.

Ah. I got it for $4US in "Used - Like New" from the AMP. Still wondering about others though....

[SonicMan46]

Ah. I got it for $4US in "Used - Like New" from the AMP. Still wondering about others though....

Hi Gurn - well, I don't own these early Mozart church works (also may not of even heard them?); so quite interested in the comments, especially regarding PI performances - the King's Consort on Helios is certainly a bargain offering; I was also curious about the Chandos disc below w/ Genevieve Soly on the organ - a little more pricey and I'm assuming modern instruments (not sure?).  Dave

[Gurn Blanston]

Hi Gurn - well, I don't own these early Mozart church works (also may not of even heard them?); so quite interested in the comments, especially regarding PI performances - the King's Consort on Helios is certainly a bargain offering; I was also curious about the Chandos disc below w/ Genevieve Soly on the organ - a little more pricey and I'm assuming modern instruments (not sure?).  Dave

Dave,
These are surprisingly pleasant one movement sonatas. I don't have a PI version yet, I have the German Bach Soloists/Winschermann   & Daniel Chorzempa, which is the MI version on the Philips Complete Mozart Edition. A very fine version, to be sure, but not where my head is at these days. The Turovsky that you pictured is indeed MI, I have heard that it is quite good too, but not herd it myself. I don't think I would be going way out on a limb if I mentioned this group to you, which is the Haselböck players. I have them in several Haydn & Mozart disks and they are very fine. I was just looking for one with the minimal number of players this time.





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Now playing:


Swedish Chamber Orchestra \ Thomas Dausgaard - Op 125 Symphony #9 in d 4th mvmt - Finale: Presto - Allegro assai

[Opus106]

Mozart Fortepiano 101 [in five minutes] (in case anyone asks)

http://www.youtube.com/v/6UQM1YGDe5w

[Opus106]

Cross-posting from WAYLT

Ooh, and here's one arranged for fortepiano and a small orcha-band. This one's more stately and less impish [compared to Staier's recording].

http://www.youtube.com/v/yWfvgAXCUAY

Has anyone heard other such arrangements?

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, that[i/] was certainly interesting! Very cool, Navneeth. I'll have to see if there is a CD of that, I would like to hear other stuff given that sort of treatment. 

[kishnevi]

found today in the local used CD store for $5.99  worth what I paid for it, but I'm not sure its so good that everyone else needs to rush out and find their own copy.


Mozart: Sonatas and Variations for Violin and Piano

Yuuko Shiokawa, violin (Mittenwald, Bavaria, mid 18th century)*
Andras Schiff, fortepiano (Anton Walter, Vienna 1780)**
recorded in the room in which Mozart was born***
recorded Mozart Museum, Salzburg, 27-30 January 1992

*described on the cover as "Mozart's concert violin", but the liner notes only trace its ownership from Nannerl, Mozart's sister, onward, without explaining where she got it from or why it is described the way it is; its current location (at least, as of the time of the recording), is the Mozart Museum (Mozart's birthplace) in Salzburg. It was restored (in the 1980s, probably, based on an inference from the liner notes), but left with enough original parts that it keeps the original A=421, allowing a deeper darker tone to the violin than usual.

** described on the cover as "Mozart's fortepiano", but the liner notes can only cite a tradition that it "once belonged to Mozart and was played by him during the last years of his life" and that the maker did not sign the instrument.  It too is (or was at the time of the recording) kept in the Mozart Museum.

***which may sound piquant, or reaching so far for authenticity that it becomes fake, but I think was simply a logistical necessity, since that is apparently the room in which the Museum keeps the fortepiano on display.  It does allow the acoustic a dry intimacy that conveys the fact that this music is being played in a private house and not a concert hall

Works performed  Sonata in G major K379; Sonata in e minor K304; Six variations in g minor on "Au bord d'un fontaine" K360; Sonata in B flat major K454

The liner notes, btw, mention that Schiff recorded a CD of solo keyboard works on the same fortepiano in 1991, and Amazon lists a slightly later PI recording of more Mozart--the "Kegelstatt" Clarinet Trio and two Piano Trios--released on Teldec/Das Alte Werk with Schiff and Shiokawa among the performers.

[Florestan]

Cross-posting from WAYLT

Ooh, and here's one arranged for fortepiano and a small orcha-band. This one's more stately and less impish [compared to Staier's recording].

http://www.youtube.com/v/yWfvgAXCUAY

Has anyone heard other such arrangements?

That's very nice, although I suspect some liberties in respect to the score.

[Opus106]

That's very nice, although I suspect some liberties in respect to the score.

I'd agree with you, if I knew how to read scores and such. I was led to that particular clip from the one in which Staier plays the sonata (the last movement, specifically), and that's taking liberties most definitely!



On a slightly related note, here's a question, to whomever it may concern, that 's been nagging me for a while: is it just me or does the modern pianist (or HIPPI fortepianist, depending upon your world-view) accentuate the opening notes of the last movement differently?

[Que]

Repost!  I like this disc better and better - strongly recommended.

.[asin]B003E83QSS[/asin]

Quote from outhere-music.com:

It may seem surprising that after three decades of 'early music' research, critical discoveries can still be made about a great composer such as Mozart and particularly discoveries around his well-known masterpieces. This recording presents the première recording of the Grande Sonate, an anonymous arrangement for fortepiano and basset clarinet of Mozart's beloved Clarinet Quintet in A major, K.581. Both the Clarinet Quintet and the Concerto in A major, K.622, were originally written for an instrument called the basset clarinet, which has four more chromatic notes at the bottom of its range than an ordinary clarinet. Since the manuscripts to both pieces were lost, clarinettists have had to make educated guesses about the passages that may have included these low notes. Significantly, this arrangement includes some of these basset notes, making it an important source for those wishing to restore the piece to its original form. In its incarnation as a sonata, it becomes a wonderful piece of chamber music which is especially compelling when played on instruments like those Mozart and Stadler (for whom it was composed) knew.

Awesome!

The basset-clarinet after Theodor Lotz that is used, looks similar to this reconstruction:

Basset Clarinet in A after a drawing of the instrument played by Anton Stadler and Theodor Lotz The basset clarinet (in A, Bb, or sometimes C) is an instrument similar to the basset horn. It is the instrument for which Mozart composed his Clarinet Quintet K. 581 as well as his Clarinet Concerto K. 622. Unfortunately there are no surviving originals. It was developed around 1788 by Theodor Lotz, instrument maker to the Court of Vienna, in collaboration with Mozart's friend Anton Stadler (1753-1812). They extended the clarinet downwards by a minor third, just like on a basset horn, but including all the semitones, requiring 4 additional keys. Basset horns in those days were diatonic. The bore was angled twice where as the basset clarinet was short enough to be built straight. After Mozart's death the lowest notes of the concerto were transposed up an octave so it could be played on the much more common A clarinet. Since there is no original instrument we could have measured up, we based our basset clarinet on an original drawing of Theodor Lotz' instrument, and on extensive experiments. The drawing was found on a concert flyer for Stadler's concert in Riga in 1798. He is announced as an inventor as well as a virtuoso. The instrument features a bulbous bell ("Liebesfuß"), as it can be found on certain basset horns of the time. Our reconstruction is based on an A clarinet by H. Grenser of Dresden. Similar instruments in various pitches were made in the workshops of Johann Benjamin Eisenbrandt, Göttingen (before 1822), Johann Georg Braun, Mannheim (between 1816 and 1833), and others.

Q

[San Antone]

Repost!  I like this disc better and better - strongly recommended.

.[asin]B003E83QSS[/asin]

Quote from outhere-music.com:

It may seem surprising that after three decades of 'early music' research, critical discoveries can still be made about a great composer such as Mozart and particularly discoveries around his well-known masterpieces. This recording presents the première recording of the Grande Sonate, an anonymous arrangement for fortepiano and basset clarinet of Mozart's beloved Clarinet Quintet in A major, K.581. Both the Clarinet Quintet and the Concerto in A major, K.622, were originally written for an instrument called the basset clarinet, which has four more chromatic notes at the bottom of its range than an ordinary clarinet. Since the manuscripts to both pieces were lost, clarinettists have had to make educated guesses about the passages that may have included these low notes. Significantly, this arrangement includes some of these basset notes, making it an important source for those wishing to restore the piece to its original form. In its incarnation as a sonata, it becomes a wonderful piece of chamber music which is especially compelling when played on instruments like those Mozart and Stadler (for whom it was composed) knew.

Awesome!

The basset-clarinet after Theodor Lotz that is used, looks similar to this reconstruction:

Basset Clarinet in A after a drawing of the instrument played by Anton Stadler and Theodor Lotz The basset clarinet (in A, Bb, or sometimes C) is an instrument similar to the basset horn. It is the instrument for which Mozart composed his Clarinet Quintet K. 581 as well as his Clarinet Concerto K. 622. Unfortunately there are no surviving originals. It was developed around 1788 by Theodor Lotz, instrument maker to the Court of Vienna, in collaboration with Mozart's friend Anton Stadler (1753-1812). They extended the clarinet downwards by a minor third, just like on a basset horn, but including all the semitones, requiring 4 additional keys. Basset horns in those days were diatonic. The bore was angled twice where as the basset clarinet was short enough to be built straight. After Mozart's death the lowest notes of the concerto were transposed up an octave so it could be played on the much more common A clarinet. Since there is no original instrument we could have measured up, we based our basset clarinet on an original drawing of Theodor Lotz' instrument, and on extensive experiments. The drawing was found on a concert flyer for Stadler's concert in Riga in 1798. He is announced as an inventor as well as a virtuoso. The instrument features a bulbous bell ("Liebesfuß"), as it can be found on certain basset horns of the time. Our reconstruction is based on an A clarinet by H. Grenser of Dresden. Similar instruments in various pitches were made in the workshops of Johann Benjamin Eisenbrandt, Göttingen (before 1822), Johann Georg Braun, Mannheim (between 1816 and 1833), and others.

Q

I have this one and love it:

[Gurn Blanston]

I have this one and love it:

I have that one too, and am also very fond of it. Excellent playing, great sound. A good example of a disk where lack of PI doesn't bring it down for me.

[Gurn Blanston]

Repost!  I like this disc better and better - strongly recommended.

.[asin]B003E83QSS[/asin]

Quote from outhere-music.com:

It may seem surprising that after three decades of 'early music' research, critical discoveries can still be made about a great composer such as Mozart and particularly discoveries around his well-known masterpieces. This recording presents the première recording of the Grande Sonate, an anonymous arrangement for fortepiano and basset clarinet of Mozart's beloved Clarinet Quintet in A major, K.581. Both the Clarinet Quintet and the Concerto in A major, K.622, were originally written for an instrument called the basset clarinet, which has four more chromatic notes at the bottom of its range than an ordinary clarinet. Since the manuscripts to both pieces were lost, clarinettists have had to make educated guesses about the passages that may have included these low notes. Significantly, this arrangement includes some of these basset notes, making it an important source for those wishing to restore the piece to its original form. In its incarnation as a sonata, it becomes a wonderful piece of chamber music which is especially compelling when played on instruments like those Mozart and Stadler (for whom it was composed) knew.

Awesome!

The basset-clarinet after Theodor Lotz that is used, looks similar to this reconstruction:

Basset Clarinet in A after a drawing of the instrument played by Anton Stadler and Theodor Lotz The basset clarinet (in A, Bb, or sometimes C) is an instrument similar to the basset horn. It is the instrument for which Mozart composed his Clarinet Quintet K. 581 as well as his Clarinet Concerto K. 622. Unfortunately there are no surviving originals. It was developed around 1788 by Theodor Lotz, instrument maker to the Court of Vienna, in collaboration with Mozart's friend Anton Stadler (1753-1812). They extended the clarinet downwards by a minor third, just like on a basset horn, but including all the semitones, requiring 4 additional keys. Basset horns in those days were diatonic. The bore was angled twice where as the basset clarinet was short enough to be built straight. After Mozart's death the lowest notes of the concerto were transposed up an octave so it could be played on the much more common A clarinet. Since there is no original instrument we could have measured up, we based our basset clarinet on an original drawing of Theodor Lotz' instrument, and on extensive experiments. The drawing was found on a concert flyer for Stadler's concert in Riga in 1798. He is announced as an inventor as well as a virtuoso. The instrument features a bulbous bell ("Liebesfuß"), as it can be found on certain basset horns of the time. Our reconstruction is based on an A clarinet by H. Grenser of Dresden. Similar instruments in various pitches were made in the workshops of Johann Benjamin Eisenbrandt, Göttingen (before 1822), Johann Georg Braun, Mannheim (between 1816 and 1833), and others.

Q

Great post, Que. Thanks for reminding me of this one. I moved it up in my Wish List to the top. I am curious how the Kegglestat sounds on here?  I have several good versions right now, but am always looking for a benchmark.

[San Antone]

I have that one too, and am also very fond of it. Excellent playing, great sound. A good example of a disk where lack of PI doesn't bring it down for me.

Not PI?  I guess I assumed by use of Basset-Clarinet and involvement of conductor Roy Goodman at least some were period instruments.  Still a nice disc.

[Gurn Blanston]

Not PI?  I guess I assumed by use of Basset-Clarinet and involvement of conductor Roy Goodman at least some were period instruments.  Still a nice disc.

Yeah, those guys are 'in the movement', but the Royal Liverpoolers are MI. They also played under Mackerras (fine Beethoven cycle) and did a good job too. SOme bands have it, some don't, I guess. 

[Scarpia]

That transcription of the Clarinet Quintet for basset clarinet and fortepiano looks interesting.

[San Antone]

I found another (what purports to be) period instrument recording of the Mozart Clarinet (Basset) Quintet and a couple of fragments -



Reviewed here in Gramophone, there is some interesting historical context along with a generally good report of the disc.

The review also confirms that the strings use gut strings and curved bows accompanying the basset clarinet.

[Gurn Blanston]

I found another (what purports to be) period instrument recording of the Mozart Clarinet (Basset) Quintet and a couple of fragments -



Reviewed here in Gramophone, there is some interesting historical context along with a generally good report of the disc.

The review also confirms that the strings use gut strings and curved bows accompanying the basset clarinet.

Oh yes, Divertimento Salzburg are super! They are usually led by Martin Haselböck, they've done a couple of nice Haydn disks on Orfeo. I've never sen this Mozart disk before. I'd like to have it.

[Wakefield]

Few days ago, I posted this in the "New Releases" thread:

Clarinet Quintet in A K581
Quintet fragments K581a, K580b, K516c
in completions by Robert Levin and Franz Beyer

Colin Lawson - Clarinet
The Revolutionary Drawing Room

Mozart created the medium of the Clarinet Quintet K581 by means of a process that involved a number of preliminary experimental fragments, all of which can also be heard on this disc. Like the Clarinet Concerto, the Quintet K581 was intended for Stadler's basset clarinet in A, which was furnished with an additional four semitones at the bottom of the compass. Colin Lawson's boxwood basset clarinet (modelled on Viennese instruments of the period) was especially created for him in 1988 by the Cambridge maker Daniel Bangham. For the Allegro in F K580b he plays the more brilliant clarinet in C and is joined by Michael Harris (basset horn). The Allegro K516c features the extremely rare Bb basset clarinet used elsewhere by Mozart only in the virtuoso obbligato to 'Parto, parto' from La Clemenza di Tito. Colin Lawson, described by BBC Music Magazine as 'the doyen of period clarinettists' explores Mozart's original sound world in partnership with his colleagues from The Revolutionary Drawing Room.

http://www.clarinetclassics.com/shop/mozart-2/
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Clarinet%2BClassics/CC0068

It looks quite interesting, IMO.

These guys of "The Revolutionary Drawing Room" have recorded several discs on CPO, including some remarkable Boccherini.