Mozart's Divertimento, K287, is scored for two violins, viola, two horns and bass, a combination which cannot be easy to balance. Toscanini and Karajan solved the problem in a way by recording the work with a full orchestral string section, but the Academy Chamber Ensemble on Philips go to the other end of the scale and use just one player per part. They are given a nicely balanced recording with the help of skilful microphone placing.
Sandor Vegh uses a smallish string ensemble on the new Capriccio disc, and the results are very pleasing indeed, for the Salzburg players are set in a natural-sounding acoustic and the sound is excellent. Vegh directs an attractive, neatlypointed, graceful performance of the work, and the playing is of a very high standard. The Academy ensemble seem continually to press the music onwards, with fewer inflections of phrase, and their playing, though highly efficient, is less elegant and less imaginative than that of the Austrian musicians. Philips's coupling is the somewhat trivial Salzburg Symphony, K138.
In the shorter Divertimento, K205, there are more problems of balance, since here the scoring is for violin, viola, two horns, bassoon and bass. Again, the sound produced by Capriccio seems just right, and Vegh's performance is full of affection and charm. The Academy players on Philips seem just a little workaday and uninspired by comparison. If you prefer one player per part the Philips discs will serve, but Capriccio's small ensemble performances are a good deal superior.'