CD 1
– Divertimento K. 439b, I
Sib maggiore
– Divertimento K. 439b, II
Sib maggiore
– Divertimento K. 439b, III
Sib maggiore
CD 2
– Divertimento K. 439b, IV
Sib maggiore
– Divertimento K. 439b, V
Sib maggiore
– Notturno K. 439
“Due pupille amabili”
– Notturno K. 438
“Se lontan, ben mio, tu sei”
– Notturno K. 436
“Ecco quel fiero istante”
– Notturno K. 437
“mi lagnerò tacendo”
– Notturno K. 346
“Luci care, luci belle”
– Notturno K. 549
“Più non si trovano”
– Adagio Anhang 94
Fa maggiore
– Adagio K. 411
Sib maggiore
“Even what is light can be great, if it is written in a fluent and easy style and if, at the same time, it is based on solid composition.” (Letter from Leopold Mozart to his son, August 13, 1788).
Mozart’s predilection for the amber timbres of the clarinet, and its darker cousin, the basset horn, goes back especially to the latter part of his creative season.
Neither his acquaintance with the celebrated clarinetist Anton Paul Stadler nor the carefree, yet cultured atmosphere of Baron Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin’s Wednesdays, in whose palace at the Botanischer Garten the Viennese Enlightenment and Masonic intelligentsia liked to gather in the latter part of the tenth-eighth century, were certainly foreign to this passion. Thus, both the Notturni KV 437 and 439 for three voices, two clarinets or three basset horns, on texts by Metastasio, and the five Divertimenti for the same ensemble (without the voices) KV 439b were born in this setting.
The musical result ranges from the high-level divertissement of the Divertimenti, to the palpitating and melancholy tenderness of the Nocturnes, a true synthesis of an incomparable era and stylistic figure. In this recording, some exceptional guests: the English clarinetist Antony Pay, and the superb all-Italian vocal cast: Marinella Pennicchi, Gloria Banditelli and Pietro Foresti.
