Good as Levine's performances are of these two favourite serenades, I certainly prefer Mackerras's which are consistently more elegant with lifted rhythms at speeds a fraction faster. Where, for example, the third movement Andante grazioso of the Posthorn Serenade sounds a little plodding with Levine, Mackerras with a lighter touch gives it grace, helped by purer violin tone from the Prague players. I am not making strictures about the Vienna violins, but noting that thanks to a bigger, more reverberant acoustic the Prague strings consistently have extra warmth as well as purity. The obverse of that is the impression of rather a large band for Mozart of this vintage—whatever the title, ''Prague Chamber Orchestra'', implies.
That Andante grazioso brings the sharpest contrast over speed. Though Mackerras is generally the faster of the two, I am glad that as an exception he takes an even more spacious view of the lovely D minor Andantino than Levine, making it even darker and more tragic with funeral match overtones. And like Levine (and unlike most others on record) he observes the repeats of both halves of that movement, so giving it an apt scale. If in the Posthorn Serenade (blessed incidentally by a gleaming, warm-toned posthorn solo in the second minuet) I prefer the extra refinement of Mackerras's view, I rather lean towards Levine's directness in the far simpler Eine kleine Nachtmusik. Yet even there the moulded elegance of the Romanza and the extra lightness and sparkle of the finale even the balance.
This is one of Telarc's first European recordings and though, as I said, the string band is rather large-sounding as recorded, and occasionally you get an odd balance—as with the bassoon at the opening of the first movement Allegro—it is full and realistic. Some may find the dynamic range rather excessive for Mozart, but that goes with the bigger scale presented.'