Word: sinfonia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Mozart, Violin Concertos Nos. 1 to 5, Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K. 364 (and other works) (David Oistrakh, soloist and conductor, Berlin Philharmonic; Angel, 4 LPs, $23.92). The riddle of the Sphinx is nothing compared with the mystery of Mozart interpretation. How else explain the existence of so many otherwise great men of music (Horowitz, Stokowski, to name but two) among the ranks of failed Mozarteans? David Oistrakh is emphatically not one of them. His playing (that curvaceous tone especially) has a touch of the romantic, but not enough to tarnish the piquant bloom of youth that imbues...
Mozart: The Wind Concertos (various soloists, the Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan conductor; Angel, 3 LPs, $17.98). An exquisitely executed anthology for the Mozartean who has everything-or thinks he does. The selections range from what might be called the camaraderie concertos, the Sinfonia Concertante, K. 297b (featuring oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn) and the Flute and Harp Concerto, K. 299, to the solo works for bassoon (K. 191), flute (K. 313), oboe (K. 314) and clarinet (K. 622). Von Karajan's soloists, drawn from the Berlin Philharmonic, are superb...
Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K. 364, Symphony No. 32 (Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner conductor; Argo, $5.95). Whether accompanying French-horn players (see above) or reinterpreting the Baroque repertory (the Bach orchestral Suites, the Handel Concerti Grossi, Op. 6), Neville Marriner is one of the best and busiest maestros on the London recording scene. His Mozart, an artful shading of sinew, sensuousness and sonority, is as good as anything he does. Indeed, Nachtmusik is the freshest, rosiest reading of that serenade to come along in years...
Even in his disastrous New York period, Barbirolli made important contributions to music. Here he conducted several Britten premieres, including the Sinfonia da Requiem, and the Violin Concerto. Nonetheless, he could not control the orchestra as it needed to be controlled, and was left to return home, disheartened...
Perhaps that was why Fleisher, apparently unconsciously, seemed to be pedaling in Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante. He did not use a baton. Later he confided that last winter, rehearsing an amateur orchestra, he "started with a stick but found that it took on a life of its own, and did things I did not want it to do, like the Sorcerer's Apprentice." No danger of that this time. The "Haffner" Symphony was a model of Mozart interpretation-clean, clear and crisp-and in Mozart's Concerto in C Major, K.503, Fleisher afforded Soloist Claude Frank...