Mozart: Divertimento No. 10 in F major, K247

Recording location: Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, April 1961 (KV 136, KV 334); September 1962 (KV 287); October 1963 (KV 247); October 1964 (KV 205, KV 290)

This recording forms part of a series of 10 reissues celebrating the glorious Decca recordings from the 1950s-1970s of the Wiener Oktett (Vienna Octet), made up of key principals from the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

Those who campaign against background music in shops, restaurants, hotel lobbies and lifts do not have history on their side. A whole corpus of marvellous music, including the delightful Mozart Divertimenti on these discs, is not intended for serious listening. Its original performances were certainly given against a hum of conversation and probably in the open air.

These glorious Wiener Oktett performances represent the Wiener Oktett’s stereo recordings of these pieces, with the ensemble led by Anton Fietz (1926-2010). (The ensemble’s earlier recordings of selected Mozart Divertimenti, led by Willi Boskovsky will be released in December 2010 under the title “Mozart from a Golden Age”.)

The recordings of the Divertimenti KV 136 and No. 15 in B flat make their first international appearance on Decca CD and the release is accompanied by extensive and probing notes on the music and the performers by renowned commentator Tully Potter.

Recording locations: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna, Austria, June 1950 (KV 334), September 1952 (KV 247); Brahmssaal, Musikverein, Vienna, Austria, April 1955 (KV 287); Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, October 1957 (KV 113)

This recording forms part of a series of 10 reissues celebrating the glorious Decca recordings from the 1950s-1970s of the Wiener Oktett (Vienna Octet), made up of key principals from the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Five titles were released in September and the remaining five are released this month.

This release forms a companion to the 2CD set of stereo recordings of the Mozart Divertimenti performed by the Vienna Octet (Decca Eloquence 4802394). The personnel for the earlier recordings of Nos. 10, 15 and 17 differs, led by Willi Boskovsky (witness his superb solo violin playing in No. 15) in these recordings and Anton Fietz in the later versions. They are time-honoured performances, from a truly golden era of Mozart performance, here receiving their first international release on Decca CD. The 1959 stereo recording of Mozart’s first Divertimento in E flat, KV 113, representing Mozart’s first use of clarinets, receives its first release on CD; even in its LP lifetime it was only issued once, on a 45rpm EP record, in both mono and stereo formats. Review publications were in raptures about the release of No. 15, Malcolm McDonald writing in Gramophone (August 1956) concluding his review with the words: ‘If there is a much better Mozart record in the catalogues than this, I would like to hear it.’

The engaging notes to this release, as for all those in this Decca Eloquence Wiener Oktett series, are provided by Tully Potter.

Sir Colin Davis and the English Chamber Orchestra made several Mozart recordings for L'Oiseau-Lyre. All five symphonies and both Divertimenti he recorded are collected here on a 2-CD set. Crisp and tender, they are classic performances from the 1960s and will be warmly welcomed in these CD transfers by many a collector.

On 6th April 2009, in the middle of the night, an earthquake devastated the town of l’Aquila. More than 300 people were killed, thousands were wounded, and half the inhabitants of this town of 70.000 were left homeless.

This cold description hides even more tragic realities. A great number of historical monuments were damaged or destroyed in this1,000 year-old city, with its 99 squares, churches and parishes, a wealthy wooltrading centre since time immemorial. Having found refuge in hotels, tents, or with friends, without having been able to go back for their belongings since the authorities declared that the risk of buildings crumbling was too great, these unfortunate people live from one day to the next and will take years to recover from this cataclysm. For the musicians of l’Officina Musicale in l’Aquila, the situation is tragic: some lost their houses, some their instruments and others a loved one. Their director, Orazio Tucella, only had seconds to save himself by jumping through a second floor window. Badly wounded, he and his wife were taken in at a hostel in the village of San Stefano di Sextantia, whose owner had to lend him a shirt, for they had lost everything. This disc aims to bring new life to the musicians of l’Aquila, to enable them to restart their activity, to claim that hope never dies, even when misfortune strikes. The main part of the profits from this disc will go to these musicians to help them acquire the bare necessities. Our friends have chosen a light and charming repertoire, accessible to the larger public but of exemplary quality, to conjure sadness and bring back joy.

L’Officina Musicale is established in L’Aquila and is resident in the medieval villages of S. Stefano di Sessanio and Rocca Calascio, in the Gran Sasso National Parc.

The period in which the divertimenti for string quartet and winds originated was replete with revolutionary events for Mozart (the struggle of the twenty-year-old “child prodigy” to be accepted as a respected musician, the death of his mother, unreciprocated ardour).The divertimenti, however, as it were remained aloof from these life dramas, rather reflecting memories of the warm Italian sun on his recent travels. Italianate musical style and grace also had a big influence on Mozart’s chamber instrumental works.

The Stamic Quartet combines within itself the strong tradition of the Czech quartet school and a long-term interest in the classicist repertoire. This ensemble’s conjunction with the phenomenal horn-playing brothers Zdenek and Bedrich Tylšar has resulted in a model recording of Mozart’s divertimenti; a recording that (just like these compositions themselves) should serve primarily as a celebration of the joyous side of life.