This distinguished and generous collection should appeal to the seasoned listener and also to the fledgling music-lover. (Ideal Christmas present!)
Showcasing LSO principal players present and past, each performance offers many pleasures, including Timothy Jones in Horn Concerto #2 (K417), Olivier Stankiewicz playing the C-major Oboe Concerto (K314), and the star turn on the first disc, invidious as it is to frame it thus, is Andrew Marriner’s captivating manner with the always-popular Clarinet Concerto.
Disc Two includes K297b, an E-flat Sinfonia concertante probably by Mozart, the manuscript of which was lost in Paris and which surfaced many years later in a version from another hand at-odds with the scoring Mozart had cited in a letter home. As we know the piece today, the instruments are oboe (Juliana Koch), clarinet (Chris Richards), horn (Jones) and bassoon (Rachel Gough), who do this expansive, soulful and witty work proud.
Throughout the Concertos, Jaime Martín and members of the LSO offer their soloist-colleagues unstinting and stylish support, and the sound (from LSO St Luke’s) is immediate and vivid.
As a substantial bonus, the LSO Wind Ensemble essays Mozart’s big, seven-movement, B-flat Serenade (‘Gran Partita’, K361) for thirteen instruments (here including an effective string bass), a sonorous and sensitive reading.
LSO Live LSO0855 (2 SACDs): that’s a few words from me and a lot of music from Mozart and the LSO.