Mozart: Wind Concertos

London Symphony Orchestra, Jaime Martin, Timothy Jones, Andrew Marriner, Olivier Stankiewicz, juliana Koch, Chris Richards, Rachel Gough

Released on 19/11/2021 by LSO Live
Main artists: London Symphony Orchestra, Jaime Martin, Timothy Jones, Andrew Marriner, Olivier Stankiewicz, juliana Koch, Chris Richards, Rachel Gough
Genre: Concertos

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Here is a welcome reminder that the players of the London Symphony Orchestra aren’t just consummate orchestral musicians, but also more than capable of stepping into the concerto soloist shoes more frequently inhabited by the big-name artists who guest with them. It’s also a generously proportioned reminder, given that this Mozart programme under the baton of Jaime Martín groups together the Oboe Concerto, K. 314, the Clarinet Concerto, K. 622, the Horn Concerto, K. 417, the Sinfonia concertante, K. 297b and the 'Gran Partita".

Production nuts and bolts first, and the performances were all recorded in the Jerwood Hall of LSO St. Luke’s, the concertos and the Sinfonia concertante in October 2019, and the "Gran Partita" slightly earlier, in 2015. The hall’s warmly natural clarity is a perfect match for this lucid-textured repertoire, and the positioning of the soloists themselves gently out in front, has been beautifully done.

On to the actual playing, and from the orchestra these are polished, graceful performances, the overall sound a smoothly mellow one striking a nice balance between lightly articulated lucidity and the warm fullness of their large forces. Martín plays things pretty straight on the whole – for instance there’s a bit more theatricality to the phrasing of Camerata Salzburg’s recording of the Oboe Concerto with François Leleux – but there’s still nimble, cheerful buoyancy aplenty. The Oboe Concerto is in fact actually one of the album highlights, thanks to oboist Olivier Stankiewicz’s perkily articulated gossamer-weight virtuosity, singing phrasing and neatly tucked, fluttering embellishments. Meanwhile clarinettist Andrew Marriner delivers all the poised lyricism you could hope for in the Clarinet Concerto’s famous Adagio; and likewise the orchestra.

Both the Sinfonia concertante, K. 297b and the "Gran Partita" have some tough recently recorded competition, the former in the form of Emmanuel Pahud’s recent Mozart in Paris programme for Erato with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and a starry line-up directed by Francois Leleux, and the latter from composer-clarinettist Mark Simpson’s 2021 Gramophone Award-shortlisted pairing of it with his own Geysir, his own line-up including oboist Nicolas Daniel. However both LSO readings stack up very well against their rivals, the "Gran Partita" shining for its combination of full, rich sound – fabulous in the magisterial opening – and its feather-light, lively humour. It genuinely sounds like party music. Likewise, the Sinfonia concertante reading is an immensely warm one, a joyous-sounding orchestra – listen out for some delectably ardently phrased horn moments – supporting the vivacious trio interactions of bassoonist Rachel Gough, oboist Juliana Koch, clarinettist Chris Richards.

Great stuff, and a nice one for collection builders in to boot. © Charlotte Gardner/Qobuz

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Mozart: Wind Concertos

London Symphony Orchestra

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Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-Flat Major, K. 417 (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

I. Allegro

Timothy Jones