A Far Cry - W.A. Mozart: Serenade no.6 in D major "Serenata Notturna", K.239
Recorded from the program titled, "Primordial Darkness", which was A Far Cry's 2010-2011 Boston Season Opener at NEC's Jordan Hall.
As our esteemed & lovely Annotator & Musicologist, Kathryn Bacasmot puts it: "In the years surrounding the composition of the "Serenata Notturna," the prolific teenager/20-something Mozart penned a list that reads like the lyrics to the holiday song, "12 Days of Christmas": sixteen minuets for orchestra, eight minuets for piano, six piano sonatas, five violin concertos, four symphonies, two church sonatas, two masses, and an opera. That's not even half of his output during the decade, for included are a smattering of divertimentos and serenades -- nearly one of each per year. The real treat of hearing the Serenade No. 6 in D Major ("Serenata Notturna"), K. 239 is that is it not "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," (which was written a little over a decade later). With so much Mozart from which to choose, it's rather astonishing that audiences are somehow always tuned into the same top 40 hits. What can sometimes come across as precious in "Eine Kleine" is elegantly precocious in "Serenata Notturna." In 1776, while the United States was declaring its independence, Mozart wrote this piece for strings divided into two groups and timpani. Serenades have a somewhat vague formal structure, but by the Classical era the genre settled in to a comfortable multi-movement form, often kicking off in sonata form and containing at least one movement that's a minute and trio (in this piece it's the second movement). The addition of timpani in "Serenata Notturna" adds a kind of humorous gravity to the mostly light and frothy spirit of the string arrangements: it's the dark to their light, the espresso to the milk foam. The contrast is particularly prevalent in the rondo of the third movement where the timpani has its own variation before the rondo theme glitteringly nudges back in before evaporating serenely into the evening air."
The fabulous timpanist, George Nickson was so gracious to join the Criers on stage that night. Recorded live on September 24th, 2010 by Simon C. Yue & Jesse Lewis.
