Recording
Title: The 5 Violin Concertos, Sinfonia Concertante
Performers: Gidon Kremer, Kim Kashkashian, Wiener Philarmoniker
Director: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Year: 1984
Length: 30 minutes
Review
A Sinfonia Concertante is somewhere between the Symphony and the Concert, it is kind of like a Symphonic work with several solo parts, in this case for string instruments, and it is a new form, really. None of this in the Baroque.
This is a particularly beautiful one, and it seems like Mozart can do no wrong lately, the highlights here are the first two movements which are also the longest ones. The first movement is a brilliant allegro with some great and quite well known solo parts.
The second movement is a beautifully emotive adagio, the third movement pales a bit in comparison but it is still great. Mozart is capable of incredibly attractive music, and this is a perfect example of it. The recording also deserves merit, the solo players being quite tremendous not only technically but also emotionally.
Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
The American composer and bassist Edgar Meyer was so interested in this work that in 1995 he wrote a double concerto for double bass, cello and orchestra that, while very different in style, closely mirrors the structure of Mozart's Sinfonia concertante.
The slow second movement is the best known, largely because of Michael Nyman's variations on it, used as the soundtrack to the Peter Greenaway film Drowning by Numbers. The original piece is also heard after each of the drownings in the screenplay.
Part of the 1st Movement:
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