Mozart - Serenade 10 'Gran Partita' [Marriner -Academy Of Saint Martin In The Fields] 

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.

Mozart - Serenade 10 'Gran Partita' [Marriner -Academy Of Saint Martin In The Fields]

What is it with this work that makes me love it so?, i'm actually adverse to this type of music, i really find Schubert's Octet boring, as soon as i hear the words Wind Band, i think of WindBag!, and yet this is a genius of a composition, one of Mozart's very best works.

Chamber music?, or Symphonic?, this performance uses a Conductor in Neville Marriner, it sounds like a big group, but there's only 13 players, it's amazing what you can do with a small group, Mozart uses a mix of woodwinds and brass, chooses four horns, but no flutes or trumpets, seems a bit arbitrary to include certain instruments, and leave out others, but the results speak for themselves.

This work proves that Mozart is a genius, i enjoyed the first and sixth and seventh movements, the sixth movement variations are very er... varied!, but the last movement finale is a great closer, it's short and sweet, dominated by the higher woodwinds, it's a lively piece, beginning with a fast and complex opening, where all the players chatter away, everything is repeated twice, there's variations to the music, and each little variation spotlights one instrument inparticular, but the piece keeps its jolly exuberance, it's almost danceable music, this is what a finale should be all about.

Here's the finale being played on YouTube.