Customer Reviews

Mozart: The Wind Concertos /AAM * Hogwood

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
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Quite simply, you haven't heard Mozart's wind concerti until you've heard this recording. This is as close as you can get to hearing the music as Mozart wrote it to be played. For instance, in the oboe concerto, concessions to the period style and Mozart's original score _must_ be made due to the sheer physical limitations of the original two-keyed instrument used in the recording, made in 1783. In the horn concerti, the tone color difference between the stopped and unstopped notes is remarkable; you can't get this kind of drastic effect on a modern valved instrument (although some might wonder if you'd _want_ to get this effect ;). Nonetheless, it provides a unique window into both late 18th century playing style and Mozart's compositional genius.

However, not only do the period instruments do justice to the timbres Mozart himself heard and used, but the use of 18th century original and reproduction instruments allows the _original_ editions of Mozart's music to be used. The ever popular Clarinet Concerto in A was, in fact, written for the deeper ranged basset horn (aka basset clarinet) in A, not a "regular" clarinet. Hence, all editions for clarinet must transpose several passages up an octave to avoid the lower notes of the basset horn not covered by the clarinet. This fundamentally changes the character of whole sections of the piece.

Finally, the musicians in this recording have made conscious choices in playing style not directly dictated by their instruments, from basic articulations and phrasing to trills and slurs, so that they perform the music in period late 18th century style. Those familiar with "modern" appoggiaturas, for instance, might be surprised at how they would have been originally played. All in all, if you like Mozart, you want this recording, even if you already own a modern edition of his wind concerti.

Hogwood and the AAM offer their usual excellent performances for these beautiful pieces on authentic instruments. The sound quality of the recordings is also excellent.

Mozart's wind concertos are quite relaxing - if you like Mozart's style, you'll like this set.

I am partial to Hogwood and AAM for their interpretations of Mozart's works. The clarinet and oboe concertos with Pay and Piguet in particular are "reference standard" class. The flute and harp are very pleasing to listen to. The horn concerto is the weakest of the three (I'm stilling waiting for another Dennis Brain I guess), but this 3-CD set is still a particularly good value. For example, the single title "Mozart: Clarinet Concerto, Oboe Concerto / Hogwood", is listed by ...... for ....

These concertos are important additions to anyone's Mozart collection. Excellent performances on period instruments, extremely informative liner notes, clear, balanced, superb digital recordings.... everything we have come to expect from Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music. Highly recommended

WINNER OF GRAMOPHONE'S 'EDITOR'S CHOICE CD AWARD' IN 1990, THIS CD'S TOUR-DE-FORCE PERIOD INSTRUMENT PERFORMANCE OF
COMPLETE WIND CONCERTOS 3-CD BOX SET BY CHRISTOPHER HOGWOOD'S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC IS FOUND IN MOST MOZART AUDIOPHILE'S PERMANENT CD/MP3 COLLECTIONS!

CD REVIEWER NOTE TO AMAZON.COM READERS: I TYPE WITH LARGE CAP LETTERS TO READ WHAT I WRITE BECAUSE I AM A 100% DISABLED DECORATED VIETNAM VETERAN AND AM ALMOST BLIND WITH MACULAR DEGENERATION. I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE CAPS MAY CAUSE YOU. ~PATRICK HILL, MOZART SCHOLAR & AUTHOR~

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART [1756 - 1791]
MOZART COMPLETE WIND CONCERTOS 3-CD BOX SET
[K.191,K.299,K.313,K.314,K.417,K.447,K.495,K.622]
FEATURING CONDUCTOR CHRISTOPHER HOGWOOD AND
LONDON'S LEGENDARY ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC (AAM)

RATED 5-STARS BY MOZART AUDIOPHILES WORLD'S #1 PERIOD INSTRUMENT REMASTERED
3-CD SET OF MOZART COMPLETE WIND CONCERTOS [K.191,K.299,K.313,K.314,K.417,K.447,K.495,K.622]
THIS HARD TO FIND OUT-OF-PRINT MOZART 3-CD SET IS FOUND
IN MOST MOZART AUDIOPHILES PERMANENT CD/MP3 COLLECTIONS!

CD REVIEW
RATED 5-STARS BY MOZART AUDIOPHILES THE WORLD'S #1 MOZART COMPLETE WIND CONCERTOS 3-CD SET,
THIS RECORDING IS PERFORMED BY LONDON ENGLAND'S WORLD CLASS ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC
WHOSE MEMBERS ARE AMONG EUROPE'S GREATEST PERIOD INSTRUMENT MUSICIANS!

THIS MOZART COMPLETE WIND CONCERTOS 3-CD SET WAS DIGITALLY REMASTERED IN 1997 FROM
THE ORIGINAL 1990 MOZART CD RECORDINGS BY THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC.

THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC'S PERIOD INSTRUMENT MUSICANS PLAYING ON THIS 3-CD SET ARE:
*LISA BEZNOSIUK, 1780 PERIOD INSTRUMENT FLUTE
*FRANCES KELLY, 1775 PERIOD INSTRUMENT HARP
*ANTONY PAY, 1789 PERIOD INSTRUMENT BASSET CLARINET
*MICHEL PIGUET,1783 PERIOD INSTRUMENT GRUNDMANN OBOE
*DANNY BOND, 1770 PERIOD INSTRUMENT BASSOON
*ANTHONY HALSTEAD, 1776 PERIOD INSTRUMENT HORN

ALL OF THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC'S VIRTUOSO MUSICANS ON THIS MOZART WIND CONCERTOS 3-CD SET
PLAY WITH A POLISHED TECHNIQUE EXHIBITING PASSION, WARMTH, AND SENSITIVITY THAT DELIGHTS OUR EARS
WITH THEIR 18TH CENTURY PERIOD INSTRUMENTS EXQUISITELY SOFT TEMPO, EXPRESSION, ACCENT, TONE, AND NOTES!

CONDUCTOR CHRISTOPHER HOGWOOD AND THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC ACADEMY DELIVER AN BREATHTAKING SPRITED PERFORMANCE OF MOZART'S WIND CONCERTOS LIKE MOZART INTENDED THEM TO BE HEARD AND PLAYED AS DESCRIBED IN MOZART'S OWN WRITTEN WORDS "HEARD AND PLAYED WITH UNASSUMING ELEGANCE, CLARITY, AND SIMPLICITY!" THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC'S SOFTER SOUNDING 18TH CENTURY PERIOD INSTRUMENTS PRODUCES FAR SUPERIOR SOUND CLARITY SO THE AUDIENCE HEARS ALL OF THE MUSIC'S DETAILS WITH EVERY MUSICAL NOTE!

MOZART COMPLETE WIND CONCERTOS 3-CD BOX SET
TRACKS LISTING
CD #1
*CLARINET CONCERTO IN A [K.622] COMPOSED 1791
*OBOE CONCERTO IN C [K.314] COMPOSED 1778

CD #2
*CONCERTO HARP, FLUTE, & ORCHESTRA IN C [K.299] COMPOSED 1778
*ANDANTE FOR FLUTE & ORCHESTRA IN C [K.315] COMPOSED 1778
*BASSOON CONCERTO IN B [K.191] COMPOSED 1774
*FLUTE CONCERTO NO.1 IN G [K.313] COMPOSED 1778

CD #3
*HORN CONCERTO NO.3 [K.447] COMPOSED 1783
*HORN CONCERTO NO.2 [K.417] COMPOSED 1783
*RONDO FOR HORN & ORCHESTRA [K.371] COMPOSED 1781
*HORN CONCERTO NO.4 [K.495) COMPOSED 1786
*HORN CONCERTO NO.1 [K.412] COMPOSED 1782

I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED WOLFGANG MOZART'S HAPPY CAREFREE WIND CONCERTOS [CLARINET, OBOE, FLUTE, FLUTE & HARP] FOR THEIR UNASSUMING TRANSLUCENT BEAUTY! WHEN WOLFGANG MOZART COMPOSED HIS WIND CONCERTOS, HE WAS NOT THE SAME MOZART WHO COMPOSED SYMPHONIES AND PIANO CONCERTOS THAT CONTAIN THE SPECTRUM OF HUMAN EMOTIONS FROM GREAT HAPPINESS TO GREAT SADNESS! ONE WONDERS IF MOZART HAD THROWN AWAY ALL HIS WORLDLY CONCERNS WHEN HE WROTE HIS FAMED WIND CONCERTOS?

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER HOGWOOD & THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC [AAM]
CHRISTOPHER HOGWOOD IS A WORLD RENONWED ENGLISH CONDUCTOR, CONCERTMASTER, HARPSICHORDIST, WRITER, AND SCHOLAR OF MUSIC. IN 1973, CHRISTOPHER HOGWOOD FOUNDED THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC [AAM] IN LONDON ENGLAND AS THE WORLD'S FIRST PERIOD-INSTRUMENT CLASSICAL MUSIC ORCHESTRA THAT IS RATED #1 BY CLASSICAL MUSIC AUDIOPHILES. SINCE 1973, THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC HAS PERFORMED 500 CONCERTS ACROSS SIX CONTINENTS AND OVER RECORDED OVER 250 CLASSICAL MUSIC CDS CLEARLY DEMONSTRATES THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC'S PRE-EMINENCE AS THE WORLD'S FINEST PERIOD INSTRUMENT CLASSICAL MUSIC ORCHESTRA!

The best recording that there is on the Natural horn (hand-horn). I have got some rival CDs by Koster, Brown, Greer, Baumann and Halstead's earlier Nimbus recording. The Hogwood/ AAM CD is definitely the best of the bunch owing to Mr Halstead's lovely, fluent musicality, and the superb orchestral playing under Mr Hogwood.

My first impression of this CD was that it had excellent recordings, for I only listened to the clarinet and oboe concertos, so I decided to buy it. The harp and flute concertos were, also, very enjoyable, but i did not particularly like the horn. I, myself, and a horn player, and I have a good idea of what kind of elements are expected in the Mozart horn concertos. The Allegro movement of the 1st concerto played (Hn. Concerto No.1 in E-flat Major) had a very shrill sound to it, and the tonguing was far too harsh. This also appeared in the Rondo Allegro movement of the 3rd concerto played (Hn. Concerto No.4 in E-flat Major). Near the beginning of the Rondo movement of the second played (Hn. Concerto No.3), the horn plays an arpegio up to a high B-flat (Which is fairly high for the horn), but this recording puts a lot of stress on the high B-flat, but all the notes should be even and have a consistant air stream. It was very painful to listen to. Even though these sections were relatively poor, I felt that the Romance: Larghetto movement of Hn. Concerto 1, and the Romance: Andante Cantabile movement of Hn. Concerto 4 were very nice. If you are seeking for a recording of the Horn Concertos, I wouldn't recommend this CD, however, if you are seeking the Clarient Concerto, or Oboe or Flute or Harp, I would absolutely recommend this, because they were simply excellent.

Mozart wind music never fails to delight; this is a great set. It's also out of print, so hurry and grab it. While you are at it, grab the wind serenades by the same mob Mozart: Wind Serenades. There is another, american this time, delightful recording of the wind concerti, including the version for flute (k. 314), absent here, of the oboe concerto; the great Eric Hoeprich plays the clarinet concerto on Stadler's basset clarinet. It has just bee re-released on Nimbus Complete Wind Concertos, but the original Music Masters Jazz isue is still available at a giveaway price Complete Wind Concerti. For a really stylish version on conventional instruments, the Orpheus are hard to beat Mozart: Complete Wind Concertos

Great authentic instrument performance of Mozart's Wind Concertos. I believe it is overshadowed by the numberous other available recordings of these works. Hogwood just seems to be "In The Zone" regarding this set. The performance, sound, and interpretation, is perfect. I am glad I purchased it a while ago, it appears that it is out-of-print. Good Luck finding a reasonably priced one, for all of you who wish you had it, check with Decca/London.