Sir Neville Marriner here collects a miscellaneous group of popular
classical and Baroque pieces in characteristically polished and elegant
performances. The only roughness – and that deliberate – is in the extra
toy percussion of Leopold Mozart’s Cassation, with its long- misattributed Toy Symphony.
The anonymous extra soloists enjoy themselves as amateurs might, not
least on a wind machine, but what’s very hard to take is the grotesquely
mismatched cuckoo-whistle, an instrument which should readily be
tunable.
Eine kleine Nachtmusik brings a performance plainly designed
to caress the ear of traditional listeners wearied with period
performance. The second-movement Romanze is even more honeyed
than usual on muted strings. The oddity of the Pachelbel item is that
the celebrated Canon – taken unsentimentally if sweetly at a flowing
speed – is given a reprise after the Gigue. The recording is warm and
well balanced. (Gramophone)
