Ready to foray into classical music for a spell? If so, read on! If not, um…read on and see if it will change your mind!
Disc 1772 is…Serenade No. 13 “A Little Night Music” and Piano Concerto No. 17
Artist: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Year of Release: 1992, but with music from 1784 (Piano Concerto No. 17), 1787 (Serenade No. 13) and 1791 (The Magic Flute Overture),
What’s up with the Cover? This is a close up of a section of Edouard Manet’s painting “The Fifer” also known as “The Young Flautist”. I don’t usually care for Manet, and that predisposition was reaffirmed upon looking at both this segment of “The Fifer” and then later the whole thing (you can decide for yourself by looking here).
One thing that is certain is this is not an original Mozart pressing, because this little fifer was painted in 1866, almost 80 years after the music was composed. We must therefore safely conclude that the CD I purchased does not hail from the 18th century. Logic!
Also, given that the only part of the “Magic Flute” that is on this collection is the Overture, this is also a bit of false advertising. Think you’re going to get a bunch of songs about a flute? Think again! You will get a bunch of piano and a little night music and you’ll like it!
How I Came To Know It: I knew this Mozart guy was a bit of a thing, and upon seeing this CD at a local thrift store for $2, it felt like a bargain. Not so much if you bought it for that much back in 1790 though, where $2 was about two-weeks’ wages.
How It Stacks Up: and have already dabbled in a couple of prior Mozart albums and this was my third foray into his extensive catalogue. Of the three ‘albums’ I have reviewed, I put this particular collection in at #2.
Ratings: 4 stars
On my first listen to this record I suspected I’d made a mistake and bought a bunch of Mozart music I already owned. It turns out this is because like everyone I’ve been immersed with Mozart music my whole life in the background of a hundred movies. It is also because I don’t know much about classical music and rarely know the title of a piece I’m hearing. At least I know what I like and generally, I like Mozart very much.
This record has two compositions, but before we get to those we start with the Overture to his 1791 opera “The Magic Flute”. Just the Overture though, in what I’m sure the Soulless Record Execs planned as a classic bait and switch. I could talk about this, but putting just the overture doesn’t count as a full song and since this isn’t a late-night advertisement for an 8-CD set where you can “buy all the classics” I refuse to engage in such piecemeal chicanery. Which is hard, because that Overture is, like, really good…
Damn it, no! Let’s move on to the heart of the record.
Serenade No. 13 “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” aka “A Little Night Music”
The opening violin riff of this song is possibly the most recognizable classical riff in history. Certainly tied with Beethoven’s 5th. It is also pretty Goddamn great.
When it comes to classical music I cleave closer to the violin than the piano, and The ole No. 13 did not let me down early. I wanted to spin around the room in a powdered wig, my red long-tailed dress coat flailing out behind me, a beautiful woman – held in perfect frame – in my arms (in my fantasy I always maintain a perfect frame).
After all that initial bombast, Mozart settles in with some serious brilliance. Sometimes it just feels like a piano sawing at the silence, but it saws at it with such perfection, it is like it is rending the universe so you can look into the resulting rift and see heaven.
By the third movement the whimsy completely overwhelmed me, and I was under the spell of this little bit of night music, wishing there could be just a little bit more of it.
Piano Concerto No. 17
This little ditty starts out with some great energy. Again with the party atmosphere, as Mozart trills a little birdsong along like only he can. It was easy to forget with all that great violin action that a bunch of dirge-y piano was just around the corner.
But no! When the piano does arrive, it is equally trill-heavy, and it was easy to accept this newcomer to the melody, as piano and violin called and answered one another with an effortless grace.
Unlike our little night music, however, the momentum could not be maintained. Before we are halfway through the song’s second movement we get a bit of what we modern rock fans would call…a noodle. I didn’t love this noodle either and dare I say this second movement needed to move along just a little bit faster than it seemed inclined to.
Things recover in the third and final movement, although the dude on the piano still gets pretty frantic in places. You just forgive him because 1) he’s so damned good at tinkling those ivories 2) the increase in pace (from andante to allegretto) is overdue, but welcome and 3) the violins are there to ride in victorious and rescue everything the piano threatens to overdo.
Overall, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is five-star glory that still slays after more than 230 years on the earth. Piano Concerto No. 17 is also solid, but I can’t go above a high four due to the bit of andante in the middle. What can I say? I’ve got the impatient ear of a modern music listener. Classical music snobs may sneer if you like, but Mozart belongs everyone, even us old school metalheads, and that’s a good thing.
Best tracks: Of the two tunes, I’ll go with A Little Night Music
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