Post Description

Recorded at Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, UK from 6-8 June 2006.
Engineered by Calum Malcolm
Mixed and Edited at Finesplice, UK
Booklet designed by John Haxby 

Cadenzas by Alexander Janiczek
  

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) 

Mozart's life falls into two periods: his first twenty-five years, up to 1781, living at his parents' home in Salzburg, and the last decade, based in Vienna.  In both cities his residence was punctuated by journeys abroad, from 1762 (before his sixth birthday) to the trip to Prague in the summer of 1791 for the first performance of La Clemenza di Tito.  In his formative years travel played a big part in his musical education as he composed to suit the expectation of each milieu.  But despite this, the bulk of Mozart's pre-1781 output was destined for performance in Salzburg, and though we know he yearned more and more for a larger stage, the range of his compositions make it clear that the environment of his native city was varied and often stimulating. 

The most familiar music from his Salzburg years comprises the pieces in the standard classical instrumental forms - concertos, symphonies, keyboard sonatas - plus a few works from his large output of sacred music.  The many serenades, cassations, and divertimentos are much less well known.  The Divertimento, or Concerto, K.113 is in fact a "foreign" piece, composed during November 1771 in Milan, where Mozart had just experienced the triumph of his second operatic commission for the city, the Festa teatrale (Ascanio in Alba).  For the fifteen-year-old composer it's an important moment; the point where he ceases to be just a precociously gifted youngster, and becomes a composer with his own recognisable individuality.  K.113 is momentous in another way too, as the first time he had written for the clarinet, an instrument that was to become so important to him in Vienna.  On this first occasion, Mozart confines himself largely to the clarinet's bright upper register, but there are several moments that anticipate the great clarinet works to come, chief of them, perhaps, the beautiful melody at the start of the Andante, designed for the clarinet's best cantabile register, and making use of a motif he was to return to several times, right up to the great Adagio of the String Quintet, K.593.  There are characteristically Mozartian features throughout the Divertimento, from the elegant opening sentence, neatly introducing the first movement's contrasting characters whilst at the same time allowing each voice in the ensemble a say in the dialogue. The ceremonial style of the Minuet contrasts most delightfully with its pensive, minor-key trio, and the playful finale is a splendid early instance of Mozart's prodigality of invention - there are, in a tiny movement, about eight different ideas, all fitting together to make a balanced whole.     

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