Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Wind Serenades (Onyx Classics Audio CD)

Onyx Classics London Winds/Michael Collins CD

London Winds
Mozart Gran Partita etc


MOZART– WIND SERENADES
K361 ‘Gran Partita’ & K388 in C Minor

London Winds
Director: Michael Collins

Serenade K361 (370a) “Gran Partita”
in Bb major for 13 wind instruments
en si bémol majeur for 13 instruments à vent
B-Dur für 13 Bläser


For purely musical reasons of improved blend and balance, London Winds have performed K361 for many years with contrabassoon rather than double bass . Mozart clearly indicated string bass in the autograph, but equally the contrabassoon and its players in 1780s Vienna would have struggled with the required articulation of the part, and by the early 1800s the instrument had improved to the extent that the first printed edition of K361 uses contrabassoon and Beethoven gives it prominence in both the Fifth Symphony and Fidelio. Mozart himself specified contrabassoon only once: in the Masonic Funeral Music K477, where its role is more sustained and technically simpler.


Serenade K388 (K384a) “Nacht Musique”
C minor. ut mineur. C-moll


Total time: 72.33


Catalogue No: ONYX4012

Debut release on ONYX from Britain’s leading wind ensemble founded and directed by master clarinettist Michael Collins

“It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God,” reminisces Mozart's rival Salieri over the sublime strains of the Romanza from the 'Gran Partita' in the film of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus.

This highly desirable and generous anniversary release features Mozart’s undoubted two greatest masterpieces for Wind Serenade – the so-called ‘Gran Partita’ for 13 Wind instruments and the ground-breaking C Minor Serenade.

London Winds consists of the UK’s finest wind players, including apart from Collins himself, founder members Gareth Hulse (oboe), Robin O’Neill (bassoon) and Richard Watkins (horn). Founded in 1988, they have recorded previously for Decca (Spohr and Beethoven Quintets with Pascal Rogé) and Hyperion (The complete Richard Strauss Music for Wind)