file:///E:/web/cbc/reviews/Moza/james devos.htm

Mozart

Adagio,K356/K617a - Adagio,K540 - Allegro and Allegretto,KAnh135/K547a - Allegro,K1b - Allegro,K1c - Allegro,K3 - Allegro,K72a - Allegro,K312/K590d - Allegro,K400/K372a - Andante,K1a - Andante,K15ii - Andante für eine Walze in eine kleine Orgel,K616 - Andantino theme with variations,K236 - Capriccio,K395/K300g - Fantasia,K396 - Fantasia,K397/K385g - Fantasia,K475 - Fugue,K401/375e - Kleiner Traurermarsch,K453a - 6 German Dances,K509 - Gigue,K574 - Londoner Notenskizzenbuch, 'London Sketchbook',KAnh109b K15a-ss - Allegro in F, K15a;Allegro in F, K15m March,K408/1 - Minuet,K1/1e - Minuet,K1d - Minuet,K1f - Minuet,K2 - Minuet,K4 - Minuet,K5 - Minuet,K9a - Minuet,K61g/ii - Minuet,K94/K73h - Minuet,K355/567b - 8 Minuets,K315a - Keyboard Piece,K33b - Prelude and Fugue,K394/383a - Rondo,K485 - Rondo,K511 - Suite in the style of Handel,K399

Dennis James glas Luc Devos pf Guy Penson tpf Bernard Foccroulle org Guy Penson hpd Guy Penson clav

Ricercar RIC105081 (175 minutes : DDD)

Reviewed: Gramophone (12/1992)

This three-disc set claims to offer the complete keyboard works minus the sonatas and variations, but also missing are several fragments and the two big works for musical clock, K594 and 608. But if this looks like a recipe for the kind of trivia which would normally only justify its existence on disc during, say, a bicentenary year, let me say straight away that here are almost three hours of pure enchantment.
True, not all of it (if any) adds one whit to Mozart's stature, but the charm comes not so much from the music itself as from the six musical instruments on which it is performed. Most captivating of all is Dennis James's recently recreated version of the glass harmonica, allowing us to hear the delightful K617a in its original guise, and it's refreshing to hear the kind of instruments which would have been familiar to Mozart's ears playing music which was intended for domestic consumption. Although the distribution of the various instruments across the discs has resulted in a satisfyingly varied programme rather more
care might have been given to the overall approach to recording levels; it's disconcerting to hear the sweet-toned organ of St Lambertuskerk, Helmond, Holland bouncing discreetly through K72a only to be blasted out of the seat by a clavichord as it bares its fangs at the gentle Andante Kla. Perhaps this desire to achieve a balance of instruments has also clouded some judgements in assigning various pieces to different instruments. Justifying playing the K315a Minuets on the tangent piano (or Tangentenflugel) on the grounds that as they had clearly been intended for orchestra this instrument ""allows the performer to vary the timbres"" is specious, to say the least, and while Bernard Foccroulle finds a delightfully limpid registration for the tiny Klavierstuck K33, there can be no historic justification for choosing to play it on the organ rather than a clavichord.
These are tiny niggles, though, and for anyone seeking pure aural pleasure I can't offer a greater recommendation than to say that I have found it extremely difficult to tear myself away from this box of pure Viennese delights.