FURTHER INFORMATION
www.arcodiva.cz
www.englichova.cz
Surprisingly enough,
these works were written in London by
the eight year old Mozart and dedicated
to Queen Charlotte. An engraved copy
of them was presented to Her Majesty
on January 18, 1765, eleven days before
Mozart’s ninth birthday. The very musical
George III was in a lucid mood at this
time, not yet having managed to misplace
the North American colonies. He enjoyed
setting musical challenges for Mozart,
even hailing him in the street as an
old buddy from his passing carriage.
During the composition of these works,
Mozart would "...sometimes run
about the room with a stick between
his legs by way of a horse." I
think that even at 8 years old, Mozart
when putting a stick between his legs
was not thinking of a horse, but, be
that as it may, he had astounded everyone
he met in London by his amazing precocity
in composition and (musical) performance.
At this time he also met, and began
his legendary friendship with, J. C.
Bach, 20 years his senior.*
These sonatas are rarely
performed or recorded by violin and
piano although there was a recording
for oboe(!) and piano. This is probably
the first performance ever for flute
and harp. Arrangement of these sonatas
was not necessary, as the flute can
play from violin music and the harp
can play harpsichord music note for
note. Although Mozart later in his life
disdained the flute, it is difficult
to take him too seriously on this point
because his writing for flute is so
affectionately idiomatic, as in these
sonatas. One does not hear these works,
here played on the flute, as necessarily
intended for any other instrument.
The harp accompaniment
is another matter. A harpsichord is
much brighter, lighter, and more forward
than the harp. A characteristic of virtually
all of Mozart’s ensemble music is that
his counterpoint is conceived in the
mould of a dialogue between persons.
There is no sense of superior/inferior,
master/servant, soloist/accompaniment
except as may be occasioned by an opera
plot. But here the harp is disadvantaged
by the flute which is very forward and
assertive, whereas the harp is softly
textured and in the background, except
on those rare occasions where the flute
deliberately steps aside and the harpist
pointedly emphasises the part. On the
other hand, the modern harp is a large
instrument with a powerful bass range,
so in most places the harp provides
a foundation bass line, a resonant harmonic
universe, a sweet haze around the flute
notes. It remained for Louis Spohr,
in his time frequently spoken of as
a latter-day Mozart, to write perfectly
convincingly for flute and harp. And
since both instruments are placed nearly
dead centre in this recording, instead
of the flute mostly in one channel and
the harp mostly in the other, the listener
cannot adjust this balance by turning
up (or down) the "harp channel."
So while this is not
a perfect exposition of the Mozart,
it is a very enjoyable, very sensual
presentation. Both artists are true
virtuosi, constantly delighting us with
exquisite tone, skilled turns, and graceful,
effortless phrasing.
The Piano Variations
are another matter, for here a distribution
of notes between the instruments was
required. And here Mozart had no reason
not to write solo-versus-accompaniment
style. As often with Mozart, the first
variation or so is in the Baroque "doubles"
format, but we quickly move on to the
kind of organic variations style which
constituted his sonata "development"
technique. Here again, some of the variations
might be more effective in the original
version, but overall the effect is very
musical and the virtuosity of the flute
is shown in high relief, particularly
in the original cadenza provided by
the artist. The effect is not unlike
the "Blumen" variations of
Schubert, but more cheerful, naturally.
Harpist Englichová
is a graduate of the Curtis Institute
in Philadelphia and has played with
most major American and Czech orchestras,
also in Israel and Japan, and in 2000
was awarded the Chamber Music Association
prize of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
She has made a number of recordings
for Arco Diva.
*I believe, on almost
no evidence, that also at this time
he became acquainted with a barroom
song "My Thing is My Own,"
sung to the tune of Liliburlero,
which he used for a set of variations
in a piano sonata in 1783.
Paul Shoemaker
The
complete Arcodiva catalogue
Robert Stallman, flute; Kateřina Englichová,
harp 
for
details
