What a wonderful work this is, how does Mozart do it?, there are other 'similar' works like Schubert's Octet, that just don't work for me, a small bunch of woodwind players automatically has warning bells going off for me, they just don't jive together, so it's all the more refreshing and original when not only does it work, but it works in spades!, the whole thing bubbles along through a myriad of gorgeous tunes and melodies, plus this isn't a 25 minute little work, it's almost 50 minutes long, to create a work on that large a scale, and to keep up tremendous invention so that interest and attention never flags, now that's one amazing work, there's always the problem of having a variety of colour in a work when you limit yourself to fairly similar instruments, but how much i do not miss strings or brass, Marriner gets a fantastic sound out of just 13 instruments, i love this disc, i've had it since 1992, i bought it in London second hand for about £5, it's scratched quite badly, but it played beautifully, found in my Blog two and a half years ago [4th July 2010].
Neville Marriner is English, he seems to be going on forever, he's now 88, and shares the same birthday with me [though not the year], he recorded this work in 1984, the booklet cover shows three shiny woodwind instruments, clarinet, bassoon, and i guess basset horn, i love the gleaming look of the instruments, there's a green theme to the colours.
Three movement stood out from the rest, 2 & 6-7, and it was the wonderful Theme and Variations that i just couldn't help falling in love with, on the back inlay i've written out the timings for the individual variations for this movement, and i'd like to give my feelings on each one here,
Theme [0:00-1:13] - a simple theme, mainly supplied by the clarinets, but already there's that bubbly undercurrent waiting to be exploited.
Variation 1 [1:13-2:27] - the oboes turn things up a notch, sounding so lovely and happy, truly blissful music making.
Variation 2 [2:27-3:43] - everyone seems to get a turn, and i think the bassett horns take over, giving a deeper richer texture, jovial indeed.
Variation 3 [3:43-5:00] - next up it's the bassoons, though they seem to get drowned out, and the clarinets steal in, but the bassoons come back in a wonderful undercurrent.
Variation 4 [5:00-6:18] - a sparse variation, quite staccato in a way, everyone holding back.
Variation 5 [6:18-8:54] - a serene variation, oboes and clarinets dreamily serenade out the main tune, there's such a sense of pastoral-ness, the oboes are so heavenly in their playing [7:19-7:58] underpinned by i believe the bassett horns gently murmuring, now that so heartbreaking, and they play the same serene-ness a third time [8:16-8:54], certainly my favourite variation of the six.
Variation 6 [8:55-9:46] - the last variation is of course more upbeat, the shortest of the six, it's certainly a finale, nice and very bubbly by all the instruments, and the perfect foil for the following final movement.
Here's the sixth movement Theme and Variations conducted by Ivan Meylemans on YouTube.
Theme [0:00-1:13] - a simple theme, mainly supplied by the clarinets, but already there's that bubbly undercurrent waiting to be exploited.
Variation 1 [1:13-2:27] - the oboes turn things up a notch, sounding so lovely and happy, truly blissful music making.
Variation 2 [2:27-3:43] - everyone seems to get a turn, and i think the bassett horns take over, giving a deeper richer texture, jovial indeed.
Variation 3 [3:43-5:00] - next up it's the bassoons, though they seem to get drowned out, and the clarinets steal in, but the bassoons come back in a wonderful undercurrent.
Variation 4 [5:00-6:18] - a sparse variation, quite staccato in a way, everyone holding back.
Variation 5 [6:18-8:54] - a serene variation, oboes and clarinets dreamily serenade out the main tune, there's such a sense of pastoral-ness, the oboes are so heavenly in their playing [7:19-7:58] underpinned by i believe the bassett horns gently murmuring, now that so heartbreaking, and they play the same serene-ness a third time [8:16-8:54], certainly my favourite variation of the six.
Variation 6 [8:55-9:46] - the last variation is of course more upbeat, the shortest of the six, it's certainly a finale, nice and very bubbly by all the instruments, and the perfect foil for the following final movement.
Here's the sixth movement Theme and Variations conducted by Ivan Meylemans on YouTube.
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