Search - Mozart, Manara, Braconi :: Duets for Violin & Viola K423 & K424 / Divertimento K563

A Rave for an Old Friend, and Two Personal Discoveries

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 06/10/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I got this disc because I love and collect recordings of one of Mozart's exalted masterpieces, the Divertimento for String Trio in E Flat Major, K563. But accompanying this work are two other chamber works of Mozart that I don't ever recall hearing before -- and I think I would have remembered them because they are true gems. They are the only two violin/viola duets Mozart ever composed, the Duet No. 1 in G Major, K423 and the Duet No. 2 in B flat Major, K424. The story of their composition is interesting. Mozart composed them while visiting in Salzburg where he had brought his new wife, Constanze, to meet his father Leopold and sister Nannerl. While there he met with Michael Haydn, Joseph Haydn's composer brother, and learned that Haydn had been commissioned to compose six violin/viola duos for Archbishop Colleredo, Mozart's former employer when he still lived in Salzburg. Haydn had finished four of them but had become ill and didn't think he could finish them on time, so Mozart agreed to write the remaining two duets. There was never any confusion about who had written which, but the myth persists that Mozart attempted to write the duos in Haydn's style. It doesn't take long to figure out that that is a foolish notion. These two duets are quintessential Mozart. The style of composition with its contrapuntal sophistication is echt-Mozart -- he had earlier rediscovered the wonders of Bach's polyphony and that infused a deeper use of counterpoint into his works. I must say I was transfixed by these works because for me they are similar enough in style to the marvelous Divertimento that they quickly became favorites. As for the performances, the violinist Francesco Manara, and violist Simonide Braconi are wonderful. They are colleagues in the La Scala orchestra, where they are principals of their respective sections, and it is obvious that they are of one mind about how these works should be played. Their playing is nuanced, clean, sonorous, playful or mournful as required, and entirely convincing. Recorded sound in these and the Divertimento is lifelike.



As for the Divertimento which, in spite of its name, is not just some lightweight 'diversion' as most divertimenti were in Mozart's time, it is a true and deeply serious masterpiece of inspired composition. It is in six movements, like a suite might be, but they are connected motivically and in style and are utterly convincing. With the addition of cellist Massimo Polidori, also a principal of the La Scala orchestra, the three musicians in this recording play in a softer, gentler, less in-your-face style but no less convincing manner when compared with the high voltage recording by Gidon Kremer, Kim Kashkashian and Yo-yo Ma, which is probably the most popular recording of the work. Mozart: Divertimento In E I listened to it again for comparison and found myself feeling that Signori Manara, Braconi and Polidori may have penetrated deeper into the meaning of this towering work. (Although, I must admit that my first exposure to this work -- a live performance at the Aspen Music Festival by Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and Ronald Leonard [then the principal of the Los Angeles Philharmonic] remains for me a shattering experience after thirty years.)



So, because for me the discovery of treasurable Duets and a wonderful performance of the Divertimento, I give this CD a strong thumbs-up.



Scott Morrison"