Ever the practical composer, Mozart was certainly the greatest exponent of the genre, and his 'divertimentos' and 'serenades' for wind instruments occupy a special place in his catalogue of compositions.

The majority of these works hail from his youth in Salzburg, and would have been requested of him to serve as entertainment for various weddings and other social functions, although a small collection (most likely written for highly-regarded clients within his busy schedule of operatic and symphonic composing) does in fact date from his time in Vienna. One of his best-loved works is the serenade entitled “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”, although it is ironically the only serenade of his works written specifically for strings: the format, for Mozart, belonged typically to the wind instruments.

This beautiful 2 cd set also includes the five-movement 'Serenade in E major' (K.375), which was composed on October 15th 1781, for St Theresa's Day, and features (in Mozart's own revision of the work) the addition of two oboes to the double clarinets, bassoons and horns. This same scoring would be used the following year for his 'Serenade in C minor' (K.388), which carries the secondary title of 'Nacht-Musique'. This work follows a more symphonic format, with fast outer movements in sonata and theme-and-variations forms respectively.