Album

Mozart is the fourth outing for Concerto Köln on the Archiv Produktion label. After two collaborations with multicultural early music group Sarband that left many critics cold, and a symphonic survey of giga-obscure classicist Johann Wilhelm Wilms, Archiv might have thought it was time to pull in the reins a bit and feature Concerto Köln in something that had a chance of moving some units. 2006 is as good a time as any, during the "Mozart Year" in which the 250th anniversary of his birth was being observed worldwide. Concerto Köln are hardly strangers to the music of the boy genius from Salzburg; they have recorded several of his concerti for other labels such as Capriccio and Teldec and two of his operas for Harmonia Mundi. This marks the first time the 11-member Concerto Köln has recorded Mozart's purely orchestral music, and the results are very good; Mozart features well-balanced, tuneful playing that is very well recorded and sensibly paced.

A standout performance from the disc is Les Petits Riens, which Concerto Köln pared down a little bit while retaining three numbers not thought to be Mozart's, but this is a rationally thought-out arrangement and probably makes for the best recording this "little nothing" has ever had. Concerto Köln's Overture to Die Zauberflöte is certainly well scrubbed, with ample pauses placed between the declarative chords in the piece; the pauses themselves demonstrate the unanimity of sound production of which this orchestra is capable, and as always Concerto Köln sounds like a much bigger band than its membership of 11 would suggest. It performs, however, only the Adagio from the Gran Partita, and while the sequencing is good, Mozart has a greatest-hits quality to it that might not appeal to listeners who are already deeply into the composer's work. And there is viable competition in Andrew Manze and the English Concert's Harmonia Mundi effort Mozart: Night Music, which brings together Mozart's populist side, the obligatory Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and attractive filler from various parts of his catalog to provide a pleasing musical experience that also has some seriousness and weight.

Nonetheless, if you are in the market for a good basic disc of Mozart's orchestral music, performed by a group whose dimensions would have been familiar to the composer and excellently well done, Concerto Köln's Mozart is an easily recommendable choice.

© Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

CD 1
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Composer Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K.620 (Singspiel)...Act 1 Work Concerto Köln Ensemble, Anton Steck Musical Direction
1	Overture	6:18			$0.99
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Composer Les petits riens (ballet), K.Anh.10 Work 18:11 Concerto Köln Ensemble, Anton Steck Musical Direction
2	1.Ouverture: Allegro	3:14			$0.99
3	4.Andantino	1:10			$0.49
4	5.Allegro	0:09			$0.49
5	6.Larghetto	1:14			$0.49
6	3b.[Vivo] (dubious)	2:03			$0.99
7	7.Gavotte: Allegro	1:21			$0.49
8	10.Gavotte gracieuse	0:52			$0.49
9	11.Pantomime	1:51			$0.49
10	13.[Jig] (dubious)	1:35			$0.49
11	12.Gavotte	3:24			$0.99
12	2.Agité	1:18			$0.49
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Composer Serenade for Winds in Bb, K.361 ('Gran Partita') Work Concerto Köln Ensemble, Anton Steck Musical Direction
13	3.Adagio	4:43			$0.99
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Composer Divertimento in D for String Ensemble (or String Quartet), K.136 Work 16:43 Concerto Köln Ensemble, Anton Steck Musical Direction
14	1.Allegro	5:48			$0.99
15	2.Andante	7:21			$1.49
16	3.Presto	3:34			$0.99
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Composer Der Schauspieldirector, K.486 (Singspiel) Work Concerto Köln Ensemble, Anton Steck Musical Direction
17	Overture	4:38			$0.99
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Composer Serenade in G, K.525 ('Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'; 'A Little Night Music') Work 19:08 Concerto Köln Ensemble, Anton Steck Musical Direction
18	1.Allegro	7:30			$1.49
19	2.Romance: Andante	4:52			$0.99
20	3.Menuetto: Allegretto	1:48			$0.49
21	4.Rondo: Allegro	4:58			$0.99