The Posthorn Serenade, the last, and probably the finest of the nine large-scale orchestral serenades or divertimentos that Mozart composed in Salzburg between 1769 and 1779 has, rightly, been fairly well treated by the record companies—in recent years, at any rate—although older versions tend to drop out of circulation as new ones appear. Let me say straight away that this new one by the VPO under James Levine is quite one of the best that I have ever heard. What impressed me most of all, I think, is Levine's sense of tempo: a crucial factor in this work because it needs to be very acutely judged. Few conductors set exactly the right place for the delicious, lilting Rondeau (the fourth movement), for example, and the dark-hued, brooding Andante in D minor which follows it (an extra-ordinary movement in the context of a festive serenade) is often taken either too fast or too slow; and the brilliant finale is rarely played as a real Presto. In all these cases Levine proves to be exactly right; and he observes both repeats in the Andante, unlike any other conductor I can remember hearing on disc. Add to this an impressive and dramatic account of the first movement, a melting Andante (with prominent flutes, oboes and bassoons), and two festive Minuets (with a splendid posthorn in the second Trio of the second of them), marvellous playing from the VPO and a vivid recording from DG, and you have a performance of real stature.
My only regret is that Levine does not have a more adventurous coupling than the ubiquitous Eine kleine Nachtmusik (of which he gives an admittedly very acceptable account). There are many less-familiar Mozart serenades and divertimentos that could have more advantageously occupied the first 20 minutes of the first side of his record, but the most obvious and appropriate pieces to complement the Posthorn Serenade are its two associated Marches, K335/320a. These are precisely what we get on Edo de Waart's record made in the 1970s with the Dresden State Orchestra and recently reissued by Philips in a two-disc set coupled with the Haffner Serenade, K250 and its March, K249 (6770 043, 4/82). De Waart's account of K320 has great style, but he omits the implied piccolo part in the first Trio of the second Minuet and his sense of tempo is not always quite so unerring as Levine's; so if you want K320 regardless of coupling this new DG version is probably the answer.'