Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Serenade in C minor for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns & 2 bassoons, K. 388/384a (1782)

00:00 - Allegro
11:37 - Andante
15:47 - Menuetto in canone
20:26 - Allegro

The Scottish National Orchestra Wind Ensemble, dir. Paavo Järvi (1985)

Oboes: John Digney & Clare Johnson
Clarinets: John Cushing & Josef Pacewicz
Horns: Ian Smith & Joseph Currie
Bassoons: Lesley Wilson & Allan Geddes

"The C minor Serenade, a masterpiece of music, appears, however, in a repertoire dedicated to sociable entertainment, curiously out of place. Perhaps the prince asked for a wind band piece of a contemplative nature to suit his less sociable moods. The choice of key may also have Masonic significance, since both men were Freemasons...

The C minor work is short on movements for a serenade, having only four; neither [K. 375 nor K. 388] includes an introductory march. Later, when Mozart needed a string quintet to make up a set, he transcribed this wind sextet... The first movement is the only overtly tragic one, and here the drama is strong, not pathetic; this is the sort of C minor which Alfred Einstein characterized as possessing 'aggressive unisons and lyric interludes'--both can be heard in plenty. There is also, for a serenade, a surprising quantity of contrapuntal music (significant because the Minuet and Trio are devoted to the strictest of all contrapuntal textures: canon, and double canon by inversion in the Trio).

The Andante is a true serenade movement, in balmy E-flat major, full of exquisite dialogue between the instruments, untouched by the cares of C minor. The Minuet's canonic tour de force was possibly inspired by Haydn; at any rate this sort of minuet was not unprecedented. The Finale consists of a neatly shaped C minor melody with seven variations. Of these, No. 3 makes a features of syncopation, No. 5 is preceded by a horn call which looks forward to the entry of Donna Anna and Don Ottavio in the Act 2 sextet of Don Giovanni. This variation is in E-flat major. The horn call recurs at the end to restore C minor for variation No. 6. Variation No. 7 consists of slow chords which hide the shape of the theme; we are nearer to tragedy here than anywhere. And so, after a pause, the theme reappears in C major to end the serenade in high spirits." - William Mann

Painting: Four Philosophers & a Bust of Seneca [detail], Peter Paul Rubens

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