Nachtmusique, Eric Hoeprich - Mozart: Gran Partita (2009)

Mozart's Serenade for winds in B flat, K.361/370a, commonly known as the Gran Partita, is one of the earliest masterpieces written for wind ensemble. The composer had composed other works for similar ensembles, but the Gran Partita stands apart because of its size (13 instruments), its length (seven movements lasting about 50 minutes), and most of all, because of the nobility, eloquence, and wit of the music. The Dutch ensemble Nachtmusique, led by clarinetist Eric Hoeprich, performs on period instruments. The sound doesn't have the glossy sheen of a comparable ensemble of modern instruments, but there are subtleties in the fine-grained textures the 18th century instruments that give the music a distinctive and appealing character. The blend of timbres is gently lovely. The string bass, the sole string in the ensemble, though, is barely audible, and when it is, its sound is sometimes wooly. The ensemble's playing is elegant and refined, but appropriately expressive, and they are playful when the music calls for it. The attention given to the shapely phrasing of lines is especially pleasing. The first clarinet is the predominant instrument, but Hoeprich plays with admirable restraint and never comes across inappropriately as a soloist in front of an accompanying ensemble. The album is filled with four of Mozart's brief movements for wind ensemble and four duets for horns, two of which are played on this recording by basset horns, early relatives of the clarinet. Glossa's sound is characteristically immaculate.