MOZART: 6 Violin Sonatas, K. 10-15 (versions for flute and piano)

Album review

Certainly, you have heard of Mozart for Babies? This is Mozart the baby, a set of keyboard sonatas with violin or flute accompaniment that Mozart published in London as his Opus 3 just short of his ninth birthday. It bore a dedication to English Queen Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strehlitz, a wise choice, as the Queen rewarded the boy with the present of 50 guineas, a handsome sum at the time that probably even impressed Mozart's worldly and weary father Leopold. Flute players are as enthusiastic about taking up the cause of these early flute sonatas -- the only ones by Mozart so designated -- as violinists are anxious to avoid them. As they are really keyboard sonatas with a flute accompaniment, there isn't much incentive for the flute in playing them, as the flute part mostly follows or embellishes the keyboard in a perverse fashion that was for some reason popular in the mid to late eighteenth century. Some have tried to "fix" the problem through heavy editing of Mozart's work that makes scrambled eggs out of his music. Blessings be to flutist Carol Wincenc and pianist Gena Raps for making this Naxos recording, Mozart at Eight, which finally presents Mozart's formative creation -- bad voice leadings, other occasional musical no-nos, and all -- exactly as it is. Wincenc and Raps decide to employ a modern flute and piano in this recording as it is easier to keep control of the ensemble dynamics and for the flute not to overpower the soloist in this case. Despite the relative ease of this music, the whole eighteenth century medium of the accompanied keyboard sonata turns the usual relationship of soloist to accompanist on its head, and contemporary musicians are simply not trained to interact in this manner. They also decide to forego the suggestion held over from early prints that a cello follows along in an obbligato fashion in these sonatas; while this has been tried elsewhere, there's no written part for the cello in the original. At times during certain allegros, Wincenc and Raps get a little out of coordination here and there, as they are rushing forward through the music at slightly different tempi, but it's not bad and even manages to figure in some freshness and spontaneity in this still very youthful music. The recording, made at the Smith Opera House in Geneva, NY, is close and rather loud, but it is well balanced and certainly well played. Mozart at Eight is a highly enjoyable disc and is one of the best entries yet among the still relatively few recordings that investigate Mozart's K. numbers 10-15.
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