Kremerata Baltica/Gidon Kremer, violin and leader (2002)
Gidon Kremer (once hailed by Herbert von Karajan as the world’s greatest violinist) has the renown to apparently offer him the luxury to hand-pick his own ensemble, the Kremerata Baltica (a clever word play on the more commonly used Camerata – and perhaps a bit vain on his part). When the players are this good, why question anyone’s motives for their selection, just sit back and enjoy the music. These performances are sourced from the 2002 Mozart Festival in Salzburg. The ensemble offers absolutely thrilling performances of two of Mozart’s signature pieces, the “Sinfonia Concertante” and the “Serenata Notturna;” midway through the performances, his ensemble plays the hilariously entertaining “McMozart’s Eine kleine bricht Moonlicht Nicht Musick” by Professor Teddy Bors, and it quite nearly brings down the house. The disc also features two twentieth-century meditations on the works of Mozart, Estonian composer Arvo Part’s “Mozart-Adagio,” and the truly unusual Schnittke composition, “Moz-Art a la Haydn.” The latter incorporates some unorthodox touches; for example, the work begins in almost total darkness, and at various intervals in the work, the players race across the stage to rearrange themselves for the correct musical effect. It’s a pretty bizarre, though totally musically satisfying, experience.
Program: MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante; Serenata Notturna; ARVO PART: Mozart-Adagio; ALFRED SCHNITTKE: Moz-Art a la Haydn
Studio: Euro Arts [Distr. by Naxos]
Video: 16:9 widescreen
Audio: DTS 5.1, DD 5.1, PCM Stereo
Length: 88 minutes
Rating: ****
Gidon Kremer (once hailed by Herbert von Karajan as the world’s greatest violinist) has the renown to apparently offer him the luxury to hand-pick his own ensemble, the Kremerata Baltica (a clever word play on the more commonly used Camerata – and perhaps a bit vain on his part). When the players are this good, why question anyone’s motives for their selection, just sit back and enjoy the music. These performances are sourced from the 2002 Mozart Festival in Salzburg. The ensemble offers absolutely thrilling performances of two of Mozart’s signature pieces, the “Sinfonia Concertante” and the “Serenata Notturna;” midway through the performances, his ensemble plays the hilariously entertaining “McMozart’s Eine kleine bricht Moonlicht Nicht Musick” by Professor Teddy Bors, and it quite nearly brings down the house. The disc also features two twentieth-century meditations on the works of Mozart, Estonian composer Arvo Part’s “Mozart-Adagio,” and the truly unusual Schnittke composition, “Moz-Art a la Haydn.” The latter incorporates some unorthodox touches; for example, the work begins in almost total darkness, and at various intervals in the work, the players race across the stage to rearrange themselves for the correct musical effect. It’s a pretty bizarre, though totally musically satisfying, experience.
The video and audio presentation of this disc are both remarkably good, and unlike so many classical music videos, there’s no visual choreography going on to distract from the music – the cameras stay focused on the pertinent players. It’s really hard to see how a Blu-ray disc could improve much upon this excellent DVD. Very highly recommended!
— Tom Gibbs
