Ensemble Dialoghi MOZART | BEETHOVEN Quintets for Piano and Winds

Authenticity: conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features. Historically Informed Performance: an approach to the performance of classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the musical era in which a work was originally conceived. These two definitions, without reservations, certainly go hand in hand like whipped cream on pumpkin pie, with the Ensemble Dialoghi, a chamber music group made up of Spanish, Italian, and Canadian musicians. Except for the bassoon which itself dates from 1805, all the other instruments were crafted during the last ten years, but are built after period instruments from the late 18th century.

Attention - Do not adjust your system. On the contrary, it's your inner musical ear that requires adjusting and fine tuning on first listen. It took me a minute or two to "get" that the sound, and music, I was hearing were not only right, but accurately and expressively musical. I immediately pulled out, for comparison, my copy of the 1984 Sony recording featuring Murray Perahia on piano with members of the English Chamber Orchestra, a recording that up until now I considered to be exemplary. Lifeless, dull and uninvolved are my impressions of it now. What a sharp contrast between the two; not only sonically but also interpretatively. You can tell by the make-up and attire that the members of Ensemble Dialoghi are sporting on the CD cover and on their website, that they consider themselves to be more like buskers, minstrels or saltimbanques rather than just simply musicians. Their motto is "chamber music as a way of communicating", and they certainly go out of their way to project the composer's spirit, and inherent joy and beauty within the music, to the audience, as if they were staging a dramatic presentation.

If Wolfgang and Ludwig were still alive today they would most likely exclaim: "Wow, this sounds just like the good ol' days!" (Jean-Yves Duperron)

Isabelle Faust FRANZ SCHUBERT Oktett

In response to a commission from Count Troyer, who wanted a work closely modelled on Beethoven’s famous Septet op.20, Schubert – despite his fervent admiration for the older composer – resolutely struck out on his own by delivering an . . . Octet. While the enlarged forces opened his path towards symphonic writing, examination of the form and expression reveals a much more accomplished and personal composition than has generally been recognised by commentators. Isabelle Faust and her partners, enthralled by what is an exceptional work in every respect, offer us a new interpretation of it on period instruments.

Freiburger Barockorchester / Gottfried von der Goltz W.A. MOZART Concertante alla Harpa e Flauto

With a few major exceptions, most of Mozart's works are tied to specific situations and locales. That being the case, it's surprising that more recordings haven't been devoted to works he wrote in a certain place and at a certain time. One learns a lot from hearing all his Masonic pieces at one time, for example. And this disc, which offers a slice of Mozart's music from his 1778 visit to Paris, makes a satisfying whole -- and along the way makes a strong case for Mozart's authorship of the disputed Symphonie concertante for flute, oboe, horn, bassoon, and orchestra, K. 297b, presented here in an adaptation by Robert D. Levin of a later and probably spurious version with a clarinet. The symphonie concertante was a genre of French origin, and the example here fits with the rest of the ingratiating, abundantly lyrical, slight but absolutely seductive music Mozart wrote in Paris. The Freiburg Barockorchester and leader Gottfried von der Goltz also offer the two versions of the middle movement of the Symphony No. 31, "Paris", the second provided by Mozart as a replacement after a concert series director protested that the original contained too many modulations. This offers an unusual insight into Mozart's creative processes as he worked to meet the needs of patrons who did not fully understand his music. Check out the delightful Concerto for flute, harp, and orchestra, K. 299, for an example of the basic approach of this period-instrument German group in this music: in place of the high spirits most performers infuse into this concerto, von der Goltz draws on the influence of ballet in Parisian musical life -- a field into which Mozart himself ventured with his curiously titled ballet Les petits riens (The Little Nothings). This is very graceful but rather restrained Mozart. Still, it avoids the cold quality that many Baroque-oriented groups have when performing Mozart, and the program is an unusually worthwhile one.