The Divertimento K. 247 and the March K. 248 were recorded at a concert given by the Wiener Kammerensemble at the Salzburg Mozarteum on 31 January 1997 during the Mozart Week Festival. The ensemble was founded in 1970 by prominent members of the Vienna Philharmonic. With a flexible combination of musicians and instruments, it performs its broad repertoire in many great musical centers of the world.
Mozart, Piano Concerto in E flat major, K. 271 (Jeunehomme Concert)(Mozartwoche 1997)
Born in 1943, the English conductor John Eliot Gardiner initially devoted himself to the historical performance practice of the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1990 he founded the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, which specializes in music of the classical and romantic eras and always has exciting surprises in store for its audience. Gardiner numbers among the most renowned opera and concert conductors of the late 20th century. Soloist in this concerto is the internationally renowned Portuguese pianist Maria Joao Pires.
Mozart, Piano Concerto in D major, K. 175 (Mozartwoche 1997)
Christopher Hogwood founded the Academy of Ancient Music in 1973 and is one of the pioneers of historical performance practice as a harpsichordist conductor. His interpretations of the Baroque and classical opera and concert literature have brought him international acclaim. The Academy of Ancient Music has taken as its goal the performance of the works of the Baroque and Classical eras on historic instruments. The ensemble, which has a varying amount of performers, boasts a number of outstanding specialists for historical performance practice.
Mozart, Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in D major, K. 382 (Mozartwoche 1997)
Christopher Hogwood founded the Academy of Ancient Music in 1973 and is one of the pioneers of historical performance practice as a harpsichordist and conductor. His interpretations of the Baroque and classical opera and concert literature have brought him international acclaim. The Academy of Ancient Music has taken as its goal the performance of the works of the Baroque and Classical eras on historic instruments. The ensemble, which has a varying amount of performers, boasts a number of outstanding specialists for historical performance practice. Soloist Robert Levin has made a name for himself as a specialist of historical performance practice and as a musicologist who has edited a reconstructed a number of works. The performance of Mozart’s Rondo K. 382 took place in Salzburg on 1 February 1997 during the “Mozartwoche”.
Mozart, Symphony No.30 in D major, K. 202 (Mozartwoche 1997)
Christopher Hogwood founded the Academy of Ancient Music in 1973 and is one of the pioneers of historical performance practice as a harpsichordist and conductor. His interpretations of the Baroque and classical opera and concert literature have brought him international acclaim. The Academy of Ancient Music has taken as its goal the performance of the works of the Baroque and Classical eras on historic instruments. The ensemble, which has a varying amount of performers, boasts a number of outstanding specialists for historical performance practice. The performance of this Mozart symphony took place in Salzburg on 1 February 1997 during the “Mozart Weeks”.
Mozart, String Quartet in D minor, K.421
Mozart, Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, K.364
Playing the ex-Roederer Stradivarius of 1710, Solo violinist David Grimal teams up with his teacher Régis Pasquier on the Mantegazza viola. Mozart composed this work, his last concerto for string instruments, in 1779, shortly before he left Salzburg for Vienna. Its urbane elegance seems to anticipate the style that was to characterize Mozart’s first Viennese symphonies. Pasquier, who masters both the violin and viola, is a world-renowned soloist who has been called “le star du violon français” by the Paris daily Le Monde and was appointed an “Officier des Arts et des Lettres” by the President of France. David Grimal, who graduated from Paris’ Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique with the First Prize in violin and chamber music, has gone on to win several other prestigious awards as well, including the European Cultural Award. His active international career has taken him to most of the world’s great musical venues, where he has concertized with ensembles such as the English Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lyon and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. The French music magazine Diapason wrote of Grimal: “A truly inspired musician, a stylist conscious of his artistry, has risen to take his place in the otherwise empty firmament of French violin playing of the nineties.”
Mozart, Exsultate Jubilate, K. 165
Mozart’s motet “Exsultate, jubilate” K. 165 is the most famous of Mozart’s early sacred works. Written in Milan in 1773 for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini, it is sung here by the soprano Arleen Auger, whose flawless intonation and consummate musicality” (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich) underscore the virtuosity of the solo part. Though few people would spontaneously associate Leonard Bernstein with 18th-century sacred music, this production stunningly confirms the words of a major Munich daily: “After a few bars, one is conquered by Bernstein’s mastery in creating atmosphere and communicating moods.” This live concert was filmed at the ornate Basilica of Waldsassen in Franconia (Germany), one of the first architectural adaptations of the Italian Baroque style to German taste. Significantly, this work also represents a melding of Italian vocal writing and German contrapuntal art.
Mozart, Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618
Mozart composed his “Ave, verum corpus” K. 618 in June 1791, just a few months before his death. Conceived for the feast of Corpus Christi, it is a work of touching directness and simplicity, and one of Mozart’s most moving choral works. Though few people would spontaneously associate Leonard Bernstein with 18th-century sacred music, this production stunningly confirms the words of a major Munich daily: “After a few bars, one is conquered by Bernstein’s mastery in creating atmosphere and communicating moods.” This live concert with the Chorus and Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio was filmed at the ornate Basilica of Waldsassen in Franconia (Germany), one of the first architectural adaptations of the Italian Baroque style to German taste. Significantly, this work also represents a melding of Italian vocal writing and German contrapuntal art.
Mozart, Mass in C minor, K. 427
Together with the “Ave, verum corpus” and the Requiem, the Mass in C minor K. 427 is one of Mozart’s last sacred works. And, like the Requiem, it too is incomplete: the Kyrie and Gloria were performed in Salzburg in 1783, but only part of the Credo was written, and none of the Agnus Dei. The work is marked by an archaic flavor reminiscent of Handel’s music, which Mozart had developed a taste for in his later years. Though few people would spontaneously associate Leonard Bernstein with 18th-century sacred music, this production stunningly confirms the words of a major Munich daily: “After a few bars, one is conquered by Bernstein’s mastery in creating atmosphere and communicating moods.” This live concert with the Chorus and Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio was filmed at the ornate Basilica of Waldsassen in Franconia (Germany), one of the first architectural adaptations of the Italian Baroque style to German taste. Significantly, this work also represents a melding of Italian vocal writing and German contrapuntal art.