Zukerman Conducts Mozart: Divertimento; 5th Violin Concerto; Sym. No. 29; G
minor String Quintet; Clarinet Quintet
Zukerman; National Arts Centre Orchestra
CBC SMCD5230-2

5 stars

A MOZART FEAST

The first time I ever heard Pinchas Zukerman play it was in Mozart--as
the spectacularly talented violist in the string trio, Divertimento in
E Flat, K. 563; Itzhak Perlman was the violinist, Ronald Leonard (former
principal of the LA Philharmonic) the cellist.  And I've heard him play
and conduct music of Mozart several times since.  It has always seemed
to me that he has a special feel for it.

This 2 CD set is devoted entirely to Mozart, with music from several
different genres: a string orchestra divertimento, his earliest mature
symphony, one of his violin concertos, the glorious G minor string
quintet, and the clarinet quintet.  It's hard to imagine a more lovely
program than this: two-and-a-quarter hours of heavenly music played
beautifully.

For the last few years Zukerman has been the music director of the
National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and all the musicians in this
set are his colleagues there.  There is not a well-known (to me) name
amongst them, but the musicianship demonstrated in these performances
is of the highest level.  Zukerman conducts, plays the violin solo in
the concerto and the lead violin in the chamber pieces.  I have to say
that the last couple of times I'd heard him perform in person it seemed
that he was more or less phoning in his performance.  Not this time.
His velvety tone, hair-trigger technique and subtle phrasing is present
throughout.  And he gets remarkable ensemble from his players, in both
the orchestral and the chamber pieces.

A few words about some of the high points in this otherwise consistently
high-level set: The initial statement and return of the rondo theme in
the third movement of the Fifth Violin Concerto in A Major, K. 219, is
meltingly played.  The third movement allegro of the Divertimento in D
Major, K. 136, displays real virtuosity in all of the strings, with
dancing sprung rhythms; the fugal passages feature clarity and elan.

Many conductors present the Symphony No. 29 in A, K. 201, as if it
were a bijou, a trifle.  It certainly some of that quality about it,
but it also represents the 18-year-old Mozart's first mature essay in
the symphonic form and there are formal and harmonic features--as in the
development of the first movement--that are as advanced and as serious
as anything Mozart ever wrote.  Zukerman's orchestra catches that quality.
The second movement has one of Mozart's loveliest melodies, with an
equally lovely countermelody riding above it in the high violins.  The
orchestra plays it sensuously, not hurrying it, allowing us to luxuriate
in it.  The symphony's fourth movement has always been one of my favorites
in all of Mozart; there is vigor, excitement and rakish humor, almost
Haydnesque.  Zukerman apparently feels it that way, too.  I approve.

The G Minor String Quintet, K. 516, is generally considered not only
the finest of Mozart's quintets, but possibly the finest ever written.
The instrumentalists--Zukerman and Jessica Linnebach, violins, Jethro
Marks and Donnie Deacon, violas, and Amanda Forsyth, cello--play at the
highest international level.  I honestly cannot find anything to criticize.
Hear how they put forth the drama of the first movement, emphasize the
off-beat accents in the second so that we are kept off-balance (surely
that's what Mozart wanted, no?), sing the third movement as if members
of a world-class choir. The adagio first section of the fourth movement
will tear your heart out; Zukerman sings the melancholy violin theme in
such a sweetly hushed tone, over the soft sobbing of the other strings,
that you don't want it to end--it almost makes time stand still.  Any
doubt Mozart that was a genius disappears here. And then follows the
allegro in the sunniest G major; it takes a moment to shake off the
melancholy of the adagio, but once the rhythm is firmly established,
Mozart has makes us forget the melancholy and the whole thing comes to
a rollicking end. Bravo.

The set comes to an end with the glorious Clarinet Quintet in A Major,
K. 581, the chamber companion to his later well-beloved clarinet concerto,
both written for Mozart's favorite clarinetist, Anton Stadler; indeed
this quintet is usually subtitled 'Stadler.' Kimball Sykes is the fine
and sensitive clarinetist here; I don't think there is anything he can't
do with his instrument.  His legato is molten gold.  Zukerman plays first
violin; Deacon moves to the second violin stand, Jane Logan is the
violist, and Forsyth is again the cellist.  Again, the playing is
world-class.  What can one say about this piece?  It is certainly one
of my desert island works.  I remember an episode of the TV show M*A*S*H
where Major Charles Emerson Winchester tries to teach some rag-tag Chinese
musicians the quintet.  I can identify with that attempt.  This is music
one should not be away from for very long, even in a war-torn area. I
must have ten recordings of the piece.  This one is one of the best.

In summary, this is a 2 CD set that has not a single weak moment. It
contains some of the most divine music ever written in performances that
measure up to the best.

A very strong recommendation.

Scott Morrison

Review at amazon.com at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DFZY3/classicalnetA/