Here are two spirited, sunny and occasionally superficial works by the youthful Mozart.
The Colloredo Serenade, K.203 is notable for its bewildering structure – a Serenade in name, the work is preceded in performance by March, K.237; it continues as a symphony but is interrupted by a violin concerto and an additional Minuet.
There is much to savour here: there is the open air, there is the blinding sun, there are beautiful pavilions, there are moments of youthful vigour and tender introspection. The musical ideas are not always distinguished, but Mozart scores keenly, and the overriding impression is of colour, contrast and high spirits. This is a youthful celebration of nature, of man, of music. The three-movement 'concerto' is particularly memorable. Buoyancy abounds, yet the cadential passages allow the soloist to drift high, into the bright, cleansing realm of the heavens.
Much the same can be said of the Divertimento, K.251. Spirited, light thematic material abounds, and the scoring excites. Take the second Minuet, an affirmative set of variations for oboe, first violin and second violin, enclosed by a stirring drum-heavy march. The finale provides a glorious, scampering sense of conclusion, pregnant with energy and expectancy. A final march concludes the disc, its swinging opening rhythm soon giving way to passages of tenderness, tentativeness, coloured exquisitely by the woodwind.
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra provide a crisp, tight ensemble; only a couple of fleeting moments of sour violin intonation interfere with the taut musical line sustained by the instrumentalists. This is Mozart playing of the highest order. The slower movements never drift into vague, rhetorical 'beauty', but rather maintain precise articulation throughout. I doubt that the works will sustain repeated (serious) listening, but this disc provides great pleasure on its own modest terms.
