Münchner Kammerorchester

Les Vents Français, Münchner Kammerorchester – Les Vents Français: Concertante (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:57:39 minutes | 2,07 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Many listeners have heard the two sinfonie concertante of Mozart, one of them heard here, and the single instance by Haydn. But these composers worked within a tradition of such works — concertos for multiple instruments and orchestra — that has been little explored by performers. The tradition was centered in the cities of Mannheim and Paris, both major musical centers in the Classical era but devalued by historians who accepted the notion of Viennese primacy. If Les Vents Français (actually a multinational group who shared membership in the Berlin Philharmonic wind section) had simply given an airing to some works in the genre other than Mozart’s and Haydn’s, the music here would have been worth your time. They are quite a varied lot: the one by Pleyel is very much in the vein of Haydn’s sole example; the pair by Franz Danzi are broad, post-classical pieces with some harmonic originality; and the work by François Devienne, a professor of winds in Paris, naturally enough contains attractive writing for the winds. Devienne is an amateur, however, compared to the wind writing in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in B flat major for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and orchestra, K. 297b. This work survives only in a 19th century copy, and Mozart’s authorship has been questioned; all three of its movements are in the same key, a procedure Mozart followed nowhere else. But in the hands of Les Vents Français, with the brilliant wind writing in the finale, there can be no question, at least for that movement. Sample the clarinet-dominated third variation, and rejoice in the combination of perfect intonation and lively mood. This may well be the definitive reading of this often-recorded work, and when put together with the revelation of brand-new wind repertory, a stated aim of this ensemble, the program rises to must-have status.

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