There is little music, I think, that offers such unsullied delight as the last two of Mozart's big celebratory serenades, the Haffner of 1776 and the Posthorn of 1779. In these he brought his growing command of large-scale symphonic form and his burgeoning musical imagination to the task of providing what was essentially party music. A performance of these works ought to reflect the kinds of occasion for which the music was composedand I have to say that I find such response rather limited in the present recording.
It starts with the march belonging with the serenade, a crisp and neat performance. The first movement of the serenade proper is lively enough, and here and there an accent is placed to give point to a phrase, but the rhythm seems rather automatic and the effect is somewhat detached and certainly humourless—and the curious sound of the dry timpani in a fairly resonant acoustic lends a touch of hollowness to the tuttis. I was pleased to find that Koopman does not belong to the school of period performers who hold that an andante movement should be taken quite quickly he allows plenty of time in the first one here. But what for? Pavlo Beznosiuk, the violin soloist in the three-movement 'concerto' that forms the middle of the serenade, makes nothing of it; his tone seems to me edgy, his phrasing unfeeling—and here too the rhythm is oddly inflexible. His solo in the trio of the first minuet is entirely lacking in grace, and although his playing of the famous Rondo is clean and accomplished it is musically to my mind, almost wholly devoid of interest, wanting in refinement and shaping of any kind. And the cadenza is inappropriately long. After this, the serenade reverts to being purely orchestral. The two minuets go well enough, but the second andante—again at a nicely judged tempo—needs more of warmth and the finale more of humour.
I thought that this kind of 'objectivity' and this lack of interest in attractive sound had gone out in the early days of period instruments, but it seems that I was mistaken. I would be reluctant to recommend this record above a modern-instrument version, even to the period enthusiast, I'm afraid.'