The Good: A good mix of recognizable classics and interesting songs, Well-written book/liner notes, Duration.
The Bad: Some tracks are not as evocative as others.
The Basics: Educational and packed with a good representative sampling of Mozart's works, Mozart Masterpiece Collection is a worthwhile album for the Classical music collector!
Every few months, I find myself listening to a little more classical music than normal and when I spoke to my father about reviewing - after borrowing several of his classical music c.d.s to listen to and review - I think he took it as an invitation to build my Classical music collection (something I intend to do when my father passes on his collection to me, though that is no doubt years away). So, for the winter holiday last year, nestled in between chocolates, cookies and socks, my father provided me with The Classic Composer series disc #3 Mozart Musical Masterpieces.
For the last few months, in between the Artist Of The Month recordings I have been listening to, I have used this album to "cleanse my palate."
With eleven orchestral tracks, clocking out at 73:45, Mozart Musical Masterpieces becomes the first Mozart album I've listened to or owned, a fact which surprised me. Rather nicely, then, The Classical Composers series includes extensive liner notes for the album. In addition to the compact disc and notes on each track, the packaging is essentially a little hardcover book which gives readers and listeners a biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is quite the educational experience and it offers insights into the meaning and development of each track on the disc.
"The Marriage Of Figaro" opens the album and it is a lighter track than the heavier piece that comes later in the opera. It opens the album with a sense of understated grandeur that makes the listener eager for more. This piece, driven as it is by the string section, is faster paced than some Mozart and has a real sense of movement to it. The strings and percussion chase one another and this creates a sound that defines determination and movement.
"Clarinet Concerto In B Flat Major" is a more subtle piece by comparison. This piece has a solo clarinet, accompanied by a larger string orchestra with an almost complete lack of percussion. The way the clarinet stands before the rest of the orchestra evokes images of a bird flittering through a forest, especially with the way the clarinet leaps up and down the scales. At various points, the strings build behind the clarinet, but they almost always remain in a supporting theme. This is a very Springtime piece.
The third piece on the album is the second movement of the Piano Concerto No. 21. What surprised me about this piece - and I am unsure if it is just this recording or if this is indicative of the piece itself - is how strong the supporting instruments are. Flutes and high strings dominate early in the piece while the piano acts as a moody percussion instrument, dabbling slowly up and down a limited section of the scale. As the piece goes on, the higher notes on the piano begin to ring forth, but it is not until the latter half that the piano begins to dominate. As a result, this Concerto has a more moody and cerebral feel to it, like it is the music of pondering as opposed to making a statement.
By comparison, then, the third movement of Horn Concerto No. 4, which follows it, is a more robust song. This has a theme that carries through the entire (almost) four minute piece. The horn acts as a skipping, jumping boy, hopping through a forest and over fallen logs before rushing out into a meadow filled with little animals to chase. In addition to a strong sense of movement and presence - the horn acts as a musical character throughout this piece - there is a lighter, capricious sensibility to the work that is just plain fun.
One of the few vocally operatic pieces, "Exsultate Jubilate" has a soprano singing incomprehensibly (at least to me, as the language sung is not English or Spanish), making her voice a true musical instrument. The soprano is supported by light strings, but what is most impressive is how she negotiated the high ranges of the register and trills up and down the scales at the highest notes with impressive volume. The handy liner notes say that this is called coloratura. Basically, this piece is a dazzling work wherein the listener is compelled to simply listen to the power of the soprano's voice as she works it. What she is saying is far less important than the emotion with which she sings it and here, the only possible description of how she might be singing her emotions is orgasmic.
Arguably the most recognizable pieces, "Serenade 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusic'" follows next. This has one of the most recognizable openings in all of classical music with the violins announcing "Da da-da, da da da da da! Dum, da-dum, da da da dum dum dum," before sweeping into the more flowing strings which elongate the melody and continue it as a more playful back and forth. This is a song characterized by its loudest moments and it is playful and has a party sound to it.
This is followed by the "Serenade 'Gan Partita,'" which is more of a sleepy theme. Evocative of night, the light woodwinds follow a gentle string section, which makes the song into something more like a lullaby, though the melody is not so simple. If one had to characterize a carriage ride taken briskly through a clear European night, this would be the perfect theme. The instrumentals are gentle and flowing, but there is no sense of urgency and continual deeper chords playing alongside the higher notes reinforce the sense of night, even if it is a clear, starlit one.
The eighth song is the longest, "Sinfonia Concertante," and it is a rousing piece, in its early portion almost a march with strings. The brass section begins to create an anthem that sounds regal before the strings reassert themselves for a greater sense of flow. Robbed of the intended grandeur, the symphony continues with a strong sense of movement and it is easy to imagine flowing down a river with the way the deeper strings and brass begin to play off one another. There are long stretches of quicker movement without the staccato sense that the listener is moving on their own volition, followed by a few deeper chords that act as rocks or eddies in the river. Still, the journey while energetic at times is largely peaceful and the work is ultimately pleasant and fulfilling as opposed to conflicted in any way.
After that is the first movement of the "Symphony No. 4 In G Minor." This piece starts out big, but then gets lost in lighter woodwinds until the deep woodwinds and strings reassert themselves. The lighter woodwinds then create a galloping sound, but this quickly degenerates into much more subtle strings, which do not hold the same volume. As a result, this is a fractured piece which does not create an emotional resonance the way the rest of the pieces do. Were I painting while listening to this, I suspect I would create something with a few bold lines, but the rest would be filler.
The "Requiem" follows and that is a strong mix of choral vocals and strings and brass. This is a powerful and recognizable dirge (for lack of a better term) and it is executed with a sense of a grand ascension occurring as the listener listens to the piece. There is a sense of finality to the music here and it is stirring and compelling, a great mix of voice and instruments where the two are equally expressive to create the piece.
The album closes then with "Hostias," which is almost a continuation of "Requiem." With less instrumentals, the vocals have to carry this and it is good, but it feels like a second coda to the album and after the grandeur of "Requiem," "Hostias" - even with the way the sopranos play off the men singing bass - is underwhelming.
This collection is performed by various European orchestras, mostly in Berlin, Vienna and Salzburg. It is produced well and track to track there are no fall-offs in volume that the listener needs to adjust for. It seems like the performances are masterful (lacking reference for many of the songs, this is the best I can offer). For anyone who wants a truly educational introduction to the works of Mozart, this is a great way to go!
The best track is "Horn Concerto No. 4 In E Flat Major," the low point (though there are no bad tracks on the album) was the less memorable "Hostias."
For other instrument-driven music reviews, please check out my takes on:
Heroes Symphony - Philip Glass
Living Stereo Respgihi and Debussy
Nocturnes, Volume 1 - Chopin
8/10
For other music reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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