Concertos, symphonies, operas … sonatas, serenades and divertimenti. But Mozart and Ballet Music? Truly a rarity! Much of the music on this disc formed the tenth and last LP in Decca’s complete Dances and Marches series with the Wiener Mozart Ensemble under Willi Boskovsky for which he chose younger players, some of whom had not yet graduated to the Vienna Philharmonic. The leader was Friedrich Staar, a member of the Weller Quartet, but Boskovsky occasionally appropriated a solo – he plays the comical cadenza in A Musical Joke. The original recording consisted of Les Petits Riens and Idomeneo music and is here filled out with the Rondo, KV 371 and A Musical Joke. Both, the Idomeneo ballet music and march, and the little Rondo appear on CD for the first time.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Les Petits Riens, KV 299b (K. Anh. 10)
Idomeneo: Ballet Music, KV 367
Idomeneo: March, KV 366 (KV 206)
Rondo in E flat major for horn and orchestra, KV 371
Roland Berger, horn
Ein musikalischer Spass (A Musical Joke), KV 522
Wiener Mozart Ensemble
Willi Boskovsky
Recording Producers: Erik Smith (KV 299b, KV 367, KV 366, KV 371); John Mordler (KV 522)
Recording Engineer: Gordon Parry
Recording Location: Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, 20–22 & 24–30 October 1966 (KV 299b, KV 367, KV 366); March 1967 (KV 371), December 1969 (KV 522)
‘The performances are admirable, the recording excellent’ Gramophone, March 1967, on Les Petits Riens & Idomeneo
‘The horn playing excels itself in the Rondo: Roland Berger proves himself an excellent player indeed … an excellent disc’ (KV 371) Gramophone, February 1968
‘This is Boskovsky and his ensemble at their best: light of touch, sensitive in phrasing, and above all, full of style’ (A Musical Joke) Gramophone, February 1971