MOZART Sinfonia concertante K297b. Concerto for flute & harp, K299

Abbado turns to the concertos for multiple instruments

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Genre:

Orchestral

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 54

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: 4779329

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Sinfonia concertante Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Alessandro Carbonare, Clarinet
Alessio Allegrini, Horn
Claudio Abbado, Conductor
Guilhaume Santana, Bassoon
Lucas Macías Navarro, Oboe
Mozart Orchestra
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Claudio Abbado, Conductor
Jacques Zoon, Flute
Letizia Belmondo, Harp
Mozart Orchestra
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
With soloists from his own Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado here demonstrates formidably their virtuosity and sensitivity in two of Mozart’s concertante works involving wind instruments. These were both works written when Mozart visited Paris in 1778. The Flute and Harp Concerto was commissioned by the Duc de Guines, himself a keen flautist, while his daughter played the harp. Inevitably the flute takes pride of place but the role of the harp is also important, making a delightful combination.

In this performance the flautist is Jacques Zoon, the only non-Italian among the soloists on the disc. The interweaving of soloists is a delight, with Letizia Belmondo on the harp. They are well balanced against the orchestra, so that the glorious melody in the slow movement comes out ravishingly. The Orchestra Mozart here has a modest complement of strings (10-10-7-6-4), the players obviously chosen carefully by Abbado. The springing of the trotting theme in the finale rounds the performance off perfectly.

The Sinfonia concertante for wind may not be a supreme Mozart masterpiece to match the one with violin and viola (K364) but it has many delights in such a performance as this, with the wind quartet of oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn. The finale is totally delicious, again light in its trotting rhythm. Curiously, though written in Paris, it was not performed as planned when a rival composer, Giuseppe Maria Cambini, persuaded the impresario, Legros, to substitute a sinfonia concertante of his own.

Though the booklet-notes do not include any information about the Orchestra Mozart, let alone the talented soloists, their crisp precision of ensemble speaks for itself.

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