Luogo e data di registrazione		Centre in the Square, Kitchener, Ontario (Canada) - January/February 1991
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Recording supervisor		Wolf Erichson
	Recording Engineers / Editing		Stephan Schellmann, Andreas Neubronner, Markus Heiland (Tritonus)
	Prima Edizione LP		-
	Prima Edizione CD		Sony / Vivarte - S2K 47 260 - (2 CDs) - durata 74' 13" & 76' 33" - (p) 1991 - DDD
	Cover Art		Mozart Wien / Salzburg by G. Flurschütz
	Note		-

One of the great delights of 18th century European music-making, and often one of the headaches as well, was the individuality of traditions from country to country and from city to city. On the minus side, for example, no travelling musician of that era could count on a constant pitch. Nor, without experience, could he really anticipate the instrumentation, the practices, or even the competence of an orchestra with whom he might collaborate in a given place. On the plus side, however, he was sure to encounter a unique musical experience - tailored to the traditions, needs, and expectations of each community. Like other cities, Salzburg enjoyed certain traditions that resulted in special musical genres. Public holidays, name days, and other festive occasions were often celebrated to the accompaniment of works we now might call “Salzburg” serenades. These serenades were long, splendidly heterogeneous, multi-movement affairs, from which more unified smaller works could later be extracted in their entirety. A serenade might contain, for example, a miniature violin concerto, a four movement symphony, several movements featuring wind concertanti, or perhaps a combination of such diverse forms - all festively interspersed with marches and dances. Other cities and courts may have encouraged the composition of colorful serenades and divertimenti, but  only in Salzburg did these works, in turn, condense into unified genres for more formal use in concert. The three principal Salzburg composers of the middle to late 18th century - Leopold Mozart, Michael Haydn, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - all used this method of composition to get maximum mileage from their incidental music. From Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart alone we have at least six clear examples of symphonies extracted from his serenades - all in the key of D major as recorded here. They range from the first four, not so well known works (K. nos. 100, 185, 203, 204), to symphonies whose material is more familiar, having been taken from the “Haffner” and the “Posthorn" Serenades (K. 250 and 320). (The so-called “Haffner” Symphony, K. 385, although commissioned by the same family that requested the serenade by that name, is a different work altogether. It, too, may originally have been conceived as a part of a larger serenade for a family function, but it is mainly the symphony that has survived.) The idea of cannibalizing existing works to make new symphonies may seem perhaps a bit cavalier to the composer of today, who has been taught to revere idealistic 19th -century notions of “organic unity” among the movements of great musical monuments - not to mention the popularized concept of a composer`s “struggle” towards a final version. But looking back upon the 18th century with a clearer sense of music's function in society (which made constant demands upon successful composers like Mozart), we realize that factors as basic as common keys, appropriate “affects”, or even compatible lengths were perfectly acceptable criteria for grouping movements into larger forms. Besides, considering the speed and ease with which Mozart composed, the possibility of maintaining some inner unity among such movements was not necessarily lost. A note concerning orchestration and text: because of the disarray in which some of Mozart's music was left at his death, and also because of period performance practices, we can only assume the presence of certain instruments in the symphonies from the serenades. The most important decision to make concerns the tympani, for which few parts survive in the revised versions. In some cases it is unclear if the parts have been lost, or if a player was simply expected to improvise his own.A notable exception is represented by the tympani part for K. 250 (recomposed by Mozart but left incomplete), which has served as a model for reconstruction. For the present recording the symphonies have been supplied with tympani parts patterned after this model. In cases of further text questions the listener is referred to the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, upon which these performances are based. Ostensibly, Mozart's first symphonic work to be taken from the serenades was the Symphony in D major, K. 100 (1769). The Serenade comprises nine parts, which, in addition to the five symphonic movements, include an opening march and three movements of a sinfonia concertante for oboe and horn. The Symphony is cast in a relatively compact five movements: Its Allegro begins directly, with no introductory section; its two Menuettos show Mozart's humorous style at its best; its simple Andante is especially enhanced through muted strings and pizzicato effects; and its final 3/8 Allegro packs the listener off with a delightfully spirited bonhomie. Extracting the Symphony in D major, K. 185 (1773) from its serenade is now a task for the performer, because we no longer possess a separate score of parts for a symphony. Nevertheless, we know that a separate symphony once existed. The serenade was probably written as Finalmusik in the summer of 1773. Finalmusik was the name given to serenades composed for the end of an academic semester. Of the eight serenade movements (including a march and a mini-concerto for violin), the symphony is made from the Allegro assai, the Andante grazioso, the Menuetto and two Trios, and the Adagio - Allegro assai. The movements of this work are slightly larger in scope than some other symphonies in this period, and this is the first of Mozart`s symphonies to feature a slow introduction to one of the Allegro movements. There is a concertante spirit in several of the movements - notably in the Andante grazioso, where the winds are featured, and in the first Trio of the Menuetto, where a solo violin echoes its larger role in the serenade. In the second Trio, the listener may also hear an early version of the spirit of Figaro in his cavatina “Se vuol ballare”. The Symphony in D major, K. 203 (August 1774) is again taken from a Finalmusik, written for the semester's end at Salzburg University. This one has nine movements, including a march and a complete violin concerto, in addition to the symphony. Like K. 185, the symphony features slow introduction, this time to the first movement (Andante maestoso - Allegro assai) - short but flowery and serious, as a harbinger of the engaging and exciting movement to follow. The Andante is also muted, and it features an unusually florid accompaniment. A stately Menuetto is followed by a piquant but dashing Prestissimo that can be a challenge to any orchestra. The Allegro assai of Symphony in D major, K. 204 (August 1775) begins with three “annunciatory” chords, an opening convention popular among composers in several countries in this period. We do not know exactly the occasion for which the Serenade was composed, but the diary of J. J. Ferdinand von Schiedenhofen, Privy Councillor to the Prince-Archbishop, reveals that he heard the Serenade on at least two different occasions: “1775, 9. August: After dinner to Final Musik composed by Mr. Mozart.”- and - “23. August: After dinner to Final Musik by Mozart.” It is a safe assumption that K. 204 was meant to celebrate the semester's end or even graduation day of Salzburg University in the summer of 1775. The Finalmusik features eight movements, including another mini-violin concerto. The soloistic woodwind writing in the Andante and the Trio from the Menuetto confirms that this symphony arises from a concertante spirit. The finale is unusual in its metric structure, alternating between an Andantino in 2/4 and a cheerful Allegro in 3/8. The five-movement Symphony in D major, K. 250 (July 1776), taken from the famous “Haffner” Serenade, is one of the most ambitious orchestral works of this period in Mozart's career. The Serenade itself has nine movements. In addition to the symphonic movements they include an opening march and three movements of a violin concerto in G major. The Serenade was written for the wedding (21 July 1776) of “Sgr. [Franz Xaver] Spath” with “Sgra. Elisabetta Haffner”, a sister of Mozart`s childhood friend Sigmund Haffner for whom the Symphony K. 385 was written. In a proper alla breve tempo the opening Allegro maestoso reveals immediately the spirit of the original occasion, and possibly even a bit of “mail carriage” imagery in the last paced dactyl rhythms of the violins. This exuberant atmosphere is continued Allegro molto. The listener will hear a small brass fanfare in the penultimate seconds of this movement, just before the final sweep down by the orchestra. In the original serenade Mozart left this space empty, so that the final sweep comes as .in unexpected surprise. Maestro Weil speculates that in Mozart's opinion such a joke might have gone over better in a Salzburg garden than in a big city concert setting, so that in extracting the symphony Mozart added the fanfare to fill the space and bring the listener safely to the conclusion. In fact, there are several interesting comparisons to be made between the serenade and the symphonic version - differences that might suggest a delightful scenario. In the original serenade the bassoons are suddenly missing from the Menuetto galante, and in its charming little four-part Trio the second violin part is an “Alberti” or “broken chord” accompaniment: a single player might thus provide a complete harmonic accompaniment. This scoring would allow four players - two violins, a viola, and some sort of bass instrument - to leave the orchestra momentarily and play the Trio as a surprise “echo” from some distant point, providing a little scene not unlike the later first act finale setting of Don Giovanni! One can well imagine Mozart omitting the bassoons in order to give one of the players time to get from the main orchestra to perhaps a balcony or some other point in order to provide the bass instrument (which Mozart left conveniently unspecified) for the Trio. A bassoon, after all, is far more portable than a contrabass - and in any case Mozart would have depended on the latter to remain in the orchestra to support the return of the Menuetto. Of course, none of this would work in a concert situation, so the symphonic version is more conventional - simple repeated notes in the second violin, bassoons reinstated. The following Andante is identical with the original, followed by a second Menuetto with two Trios. Multiple menuets and trios may not have been standard features of symphonic works in this period, but one must remember that the “serenade” symphonies are indeed special forms - with equally special festive associations. The finale's opening Adagio is one of Mozart's most engaging and beautiful creations, followed by an exuberant Allegro assai worthy of anyone's wedding day. Once beyond the portentous Adagio maestoso beginning of the Symphony in D major, K. 320 from the “Posthorn” Serenade (3 August 1779) the Allegro con spirito hurries along in another 18th -century convention particularly well-handled by Mozart. It is the syncopated “motor” effect that propels the movement forward; other famous examples of it occur in the first movements of the “Prague“ Symphony (K. 504) and the D minor Piano Concerto (K. 466). The Symphony is taken from a serenade of nine movements, named for the “posthorn” effect in one of the menuet trios. It is a work that deserves mention alongside more famous works, in that it shows some of the techniques of a maturing and serious Mozart. The reintroduction of the Adagio maestoso woven into the meter of the Allegro con spirito confirms the “portentousness” of which we spoke earlier, and demonstrates Mozart's concern with dramatic unity. The Andantino is one of Mozart's finest essays in a minor key, and its almost theatrical calm is a truly great subject for the student of 18th -century affects. The finale, Presto, is breathtakingly short, but the quality of its musical ideas and their working-out makes it a fitting end to this magnificent symphony. David Montgomery