Among Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most frequently performed concertos and solo pieces for violin and orchestra, the second Lodron Night Music – referred to by Mozart himself as ‘Cassation from the B’ – falls between two stools. According to violinist Andrew Manze, this cassation contains ‘some of the most demanding violin parts Mozart ever wrote’. Manze added in brackets: ‘which partly explains why so few people dare to tackle this piece today’. (Booklet accompanying Manze's CD box set The Art of the Violin)
Mozart, himself an excellent soloist in his own violin concertos and those of his composer colleagues, wrote to his father in a letter from Munich on 6 October 1777: ‘Finally, I played the last cassation from the B by me, and everyone looked on in awe. I played as if I were the greatest violinist in all of Europe.’
Reason enough to draw attention to this violin concerto by Mozart, which, like the famous Hafner Serenade, was hidden in the light music of the time, and to arouse interest in a rarely performed and astonishingly valuable, unknown Mozart violin concerto.
One could debate whether this Nachtmusik, Cassation or Divertimento KV 287 should be performed orchestrally (as is often the case, unfortunately), as chamber music (string quartet with horns?) or as a concerto (whatever that means). Are there already any exemplary interpretations? What Manze writes is true: unfortunately, there are only a few recordings with renowned performers who champion this valuable solo violin composition. Or do Mozart connoisseurs know more? Why do Mozart performers show so little interest in this work, in contrast to the similarly structured Hafner Serenade, for example? Why do soloists usually only concern themselves with the five well-known Mozart violin concertos?
More cf:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Cassation (Divertimento) in B flat major, K. 287, for violin concertante, violin II, viola, bass and two horns (1777)
Mozart, himself an excellent soloist in his own violin concertos and those of his composer colleagues, wrote to his father in a letter from Munich on 6 October 1777: ‘Finally, I played the last cassation from the B by me, and everyone looked on in awe. I played as if I were the greatest violinist in all of Europe.’
Reason enough to draw attention to this violin concerto by Mozart, which, like the famous Hafner Serenade, was hidden in the light music of the time, and to arouse interest in a rarely performed and astonishingly valuable, unknown Mozart violin concerto.
One could debate whether this Nachtmusik, Cassation or Divertimento KV 287 should be performed orchestrally (as is often the case, unfortunately), as chamber music (string quartet with horns?) or as a concerto (whatever that means). Are there already any exemplary interpretations? What Manze writes is true: unfortunately, there are only a few recordings with renowned performers who champion this valuable solo violin composition. Or do Mozart connoisseurs know more? Why do Mozart performers show so little interest in this work, in contrast to the similarly structured Hafner Serenade, for example? Why do soloists usually only concern themselves with the five well-known Mozart violin concertos?
More cf:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Cassation (Divertimento) in B flat major, K. 287, for violin concertante, violin II, viola, bass and two horns (1777)
