“One precocious musical genius sharing his favorite works by
another precocious musical genius” – that’s how I’d describe
this set of major orchestral works by Mozart, all with Sir Yehudi
Menuhin conducting. It is a beautiful package drawing on the
best of Mozart played in Menuhin’s gentle but firm style.
It is appropriate that the first CD contains serenades and related
works. Serenades occupied a special place in Mozart’s musical
time and place – Salzburg. These are long pieces, often over
an hour, and composed to celebrate a person or event, such as
the opening of a university term. Wolfgang’s father Leopold
composed more than thirty serenades, but only one survives.
The two short marches concluding this first CD are also appropriate
in that marches usually book-ended serenades in Mozart’s time,
to accompany the ensemble as it processed to and from the event.
The next three CDs contain Mozart’s most mature symphonies.
Whereas the serenades were written when he was in his early
20s, these symphonies were written from ages 27 to 32, and the
final three were all completed in a six-week frenzy. No.35 Haffner
was written as a dedication to a friend, the No.36 Linz and
No.38 Prague were first performed in those cities. No.41
Jupiter was so-named by the impresario J. P. Salomon
(1746 – 1815). The early 20th century scholar Georges
Poullain, Comte de Saint-Foix, enthused that the Jupiter
“reveals all that music has achieved up to this time (1788)
and what it will do nearly a hundred years later”.
While Mozart spent six months in Paris in 1778, he gave composition
lessons to the daughter of Adrien-Louis Bonnières de Souastre,
Comte de Guines. The father and daughter played flute and harp
respectively, so Mozart wrote a concerto for the two. This K299
demonstrates his remarkable ability to write brilliantly for
instruments with which he was unacquainted as a performer. In
Mannheim, later that same year, this gift was further demonstrated
in composition of the two flute concertos (K313, K314), commissions
for a Dutch amateur musician, Ferdinand Dejean. The fifth CD
in this set contains all three concertos, well played by The
English Chamber Orchestra with soloists Samuel Coles, flute
and Naoko Yoshina, harp.
Overtures for 12 of the 22 operas that Mozart wrote fill the
final CD in this set. From Bastien und Bastienne, written when
he was 12, to La clemenza di Tito, premiered in Prague the year
he died, the choices here seem to have been based on popularity
and familiarity. Sir Yehudi leads the Orchestre de Chambre de
Lausanne in performances that are uniformly energetic and enjoyable.
There will never be another like Sir Yehudi Menuhin. His breadth
of experience and interests remains unmatched. Born in New York
City in 1916 to Byelorussian Jewish parents, he began violin
instruction at 4, and performed with the San Francisco Symphony
when he was 7. A student of Ysaÿe and Enescu, he performed under
the baton of Bruno Walter in Berlin in 1929. He was influential
in introducing yoga to Westerners through his sponsorship in
1952 of courses by B. S. K. Iyengar in London, Switzerland,
Paris and elsewhere. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s Menuhin made
jazz recordings with Stéphane Grapelli, and Eastern music recordings
with sitarist Ravi Shankar. He was also a successful teacher
and writer, and was knighted in 1965. His performing and conducting
relationship with EMI spanned seventy years, believed to be
the longest recording contract ever. Lord Menuhin died in Berlin
in March 1999.
He recorded these discs with three orchestras, but his time
with the Sinfonia Varsovia was special. In 1984, Menuhin was
invited to Poland to perform with the Polish Chamber Orchestra.
The ensemble’s forces were expanded with some of Poland’s finest
musicians. After both critical and audience success, Menuhin
expressed his desire to continue working with the group, and
so the Sinfonia Varsovia was formed and has performed and recorded
continually since. It, and the Lausanne and English Chamber
Orchestras, respond extremely well to Mozart’s music and to
Menuhin’s unflashy but sincere leadership.
Yehudi Menuhin’s relatively sedate conducting style is evident
when one compares his recordings to those of his contemporaries.
A specific point of comparison is his final two Mozart symphonies
(disk 4 on this set, recorded in 1990 with Sinfonia Varsovia)
compared to the same two pieces on the 1986 recording by the
Prague Chamber Orchestra under Charles Mackerras. Both are so-called
“Mozart orchestras” operating 300 km. apart. Menuhin’s tempi,
especially in the Menuetto third movements are stately, while
Mackerras’ sound appropriately bouncy; yet still much slower
than the pace that Hummel and Czerny insisted upon when conducting
them. On the other hand, Menuhin does not play the repeats where
most of his contemporaries include them.
A truly unique musician and human being conducting the works
of a truly unique composer. This set stands as a superb introduction
to the most enjoyable of orchestral Mozart.
Paul Kennedy
Full contents list
CD 1
Divertimento in D major KV 136 (1772) [12:40]; Serenade in D
major Serenata notturna KV239 (1776) [12:15]; Serenade
in D major Posthorn KV 320 (1779) [43:35] (with Crispian
Steele-Perkins); Two Marches KV 335 (1780) [5:42]
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Yehudi Menuhin
rec. 1990
CD 2
Symphony No. 35 in D major Haffner KV385 (1783) [19:04];
Symphony No. 36 in C major Linz KV 425 (1783) [29:10]
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Yehudi Menuhin
rec. 1993
CD 3
Symphony No. 38 in D major Prague KV 504 (1786) [29:51];
Symphony No. 39 in E flat major KV 543 (1788) [26:05]
Sinfonia Varsovia/Yehudi Menuhin
rec. 1989
CD 4
Symphony No. 40 in G minor KV 550 (1788) [25:20]; Symphony No.
41 in C major Jupiter KV 551 [32:15]
Sinfonia Varsovia/Yehudi Menuhin
rec.1990
CD 5
Flute and harp Concerto in C major KV 299 (1778) [31:07]; Flute
Concerto No. 1 KV 313 (1778) [25:02]; Flute Concerto No. 2 KV
314 (1778) [20:15]
Samuel Coles (flute), Naoko Yoshina (harp)
English Chamber Orchestra/Yehudi Menuhin
rec. 1992
CD 6
Overtures: Le nozze di Figaro (1786) [4:20]; Cosi fan
tutte (1790) [4:31]; La finta giardiniera (1775) [5:09]; Der
Schauspieldirektor (1786) [4:28]; Idomeneo (1781) [4:53]; Die
Zauberflöte (1791) [6:54]; Il re pastore (1775) [3:28]; Lucio
Silla (1772) [8:34]; La clemenza di Tito (1791) [4:36]; Don
Giovanni (1787) [6:12]; Bastien und Bastienne (1768) [1:52];
Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (1782) [5:58]
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Yehudi Menuhin
VIRGIN CLASSICS 6487942 [6 CDs: 74:18 + 48:58 + 55:59 + 57:39
+ 75:29 + 62:01] 
