French
Mozart? But of course! There's a long and honorable tradition of performing
Mozart in Paris since the composer himself first performed there as a lad. Of course, it is a tradition with a wholly different sound-world, a Watteau sound-world with a warm but pungent tone, a light but supple technique, and a clear but sensual sonority. This special quality of the French sound is most apparent in French wind playing, playing from an entirely different branch on the woodwind tree than the sumptuous sound of Austrian winds. On the 2005 recording of three of
Mozart's woodwind concertos, plus his father Leopold's Trumpet Concerto, the French soloists make an effective, insinuating, and ultimately seductive combination.
Paul Meyer's Clarinet Concerto is not an autumnal swan song, but a robust and sweet-toned hymn to beauty.
Francois Leleux's Oboe Concerto is less a parody sylvan pastoral than a slightly ironic, slightly poignant fête galante.
David Guerrier's performance of the Fourth Horn Concerto is less hunting-horn rustic than suavely witty, and his performance of Leopold Mozart's Trumpet Concerto is less brightly artificial than brilliantly insouciant, with a faint hint of knowing insincerity.
John Nelson coaxes briskly sympathetic accompaniments from the
Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. Virgin closely mikes the soloists, allowing the listener to sometimes hear them breathe, but gives the orchestra a more distant yet no less detailed sound. For listeners looking for an alternative to the sumptuous sound of Austrian winds, or, for that matter, the virtuoso sound of German winds, the international sound of English winds, or the individualistic sound of American winds, this disc will be just the thing.