Mozart - Serenade 10 'Gran Partita' [Orpheus Chamber Orchestra]
Here's a 3 disc box set, of the Serenades and Divertimenti from the conductor-less Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, a very nice well presented set, unfortunately for me, i don't find a lot of this music great, only this Gran Partita can be singled out as great music, with the Eine Kleine Nachtmusik excellent too, much of the rest is dross, therefore i wouldn't want to keep this set in my collection with such little music i want to keep, and here's my commitment to purge my disc collection of any dross, i keep the quantity down and the quality up.
The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra was formed in 1972, and have made over 70 recordings, the interpretation is not subject to any one person, but the whole group have a say in interpretation and performance, the booklet photograph is one of those Mozart edition box set things, they appear on a lot of DG Mozart discs, it's that crazy orange painting, with all the paint running in it, this time on music stands, really nice and effective, i like these ideas.
The sixth movement is an irresistible set of 6 variations on a theme, and i especially liked variations 3 & 6, lovely bassoon work in variation 3, having a lovely bass wind vibe to it, coloured over the top by clarinets, and a gorgeous bubbling joy from the clarinets in variation 6, which leads into for me the best movement of the Gran Partita, and that's its overflowing with enthusiasm seventh movement closer, it's short 3 minutes really pack a punch!, it's those damned clarinets that bubble and sparkle at the beginning [0:00-0:28], creating a euphoria of exuberance, this opening theme keeps coming back throughout the piece [1:09-1:22 & 2:24-2:31], with an especially delightful muted version played mainly by the oboes [2:17-2:24], which of course leads to the full throated version played right after, the closing is full of power [2:49-3:10], all the instruments whirl together into a whole, quickly gaining into a real froth, a truly exciting ending to a lovely masterpiece of music by Mozart.
Here's the seventh movement being played on YouTube.
