Adele Leigh (soprano)
London Chamber Orchestra
(Leader, Andrew Cooper )
Conductor. Anthony Bernard

In Mozart's day, serenades were often commissioned for family celebrations. When for instance Elisabeth Haffner, the daughter of the Burgomaster of Salzburg. was married in 1776, Mozart was asked to write a festive piece for the occasion. The result was fifty-odd minutes of symphonic movements and minuets, with a march and a complete violin concerto thrown in for good measure. Small wonder that when six years later the Haffners were raised to the nobility another serenade was commissioned. This latter was turned into a symphony the following year, when Mozart was at his wits' end for a novelty to play at a public concert, by the simple expedient of omitting its march and the extra minuet (now lost): we know it as the 'Haffner' Symphony.
Tonight Anthony Bernard, following this distinguished precedent, has bereft the wedding serenade of its extra minuet, the march, and the violin concerto. The result is offered as a work with surely no less claim to be known as a 'Haffner' Symphony. (Michael Whewell)