Grande Sestetto Concertante

It
must have been anything but easy to transform the Sinfonia
Concertante for solo violin and viola and an orchestra consisting of
two oboes, two horns, divided violins, cello and double bass into a
chamber music work for six string instruments. Naturally this meant
reducing rather than arranging, particularly when the two solo parts
had to be seamlessly integrated into the six string ensemble. Mozarts
original keys, tempi, dynamics and expression markings were retained
in all three movements, but the loss of the orchestral colour
drastically changed the demands of the music. While the scordatura
tuning of the solo viola was dispensed with, the distribution of the
solo parts went a step further; their themes, ornaments and cadenzas
were not simply transferred to the first violin or viola part, but
were distributed among five of the six string parts. Only the bass
part of the second cello was not included in this treatment.
As
a result of this, we have a new chamber work, albeit a second-hand
one. There are still a lot of flabby performances and recordings of
the original orchestral version, with over-large orchestras playing
as though Mozart was an early version of Richard Strauss, so it may
well be revelatory for some to hear this slimmed-down version. The
finely cast transparent structure of the first movement works
extremely well as chamber music, as does the deeply felt and brooding
C minor Andante. In the presto
finale the absence of the wind, especially the horns, is more keenly
felt, but the brisk tempo can overcome even this slight deficiency.
For those who know the original well there is the pleasure of
measuring one version against the other and for those unfamiliar with
one of Mozart’s most sparkling works it is a lean and spirited
introduction.