Schoenberg / Mozart – Ensemble Allegria

   in Classical Music (Mar, 2018)
This release celebrates two supreme Austrian masters and offers music of inspired compositional virtuosity. A bright, fresh, historically-informed approach to the opening of the Sinfonia concertante sets out the performance’s stall: detailed, stylish readings that glow with the joy of the very act of music-making. Interactions in the central movement are the essence of chamber music before the pure joy of the finale is projected in all its glory. Worthy to sit alongside Mutter/Bashmet with the LPO (DG), another superb modern performance. Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht is also given a fine reading, though it could do with more emotive weight and the players are not always together at climaxes. …