Leader, Daniel Melsa
Conducted by Clifton Helliwell
Enid Cruickshank (contralto)
In this musical jest Mozart is poking fun not only at the simple musicians who meet together of an evening in the village inn to make music for their own pleasure, but also at the clumsy and maladroit composer. The players are all given chances of being as absurd as they like ; the solo violin, particularly, is invited to indulge in a display of real futility.
There are four movements: the first, Allegro, begins with a very elementary tune, harmonised with the most child-like simplicity. The second is a Minuet, marked Maestoso, and though it, too, is very obvious in its design, there are little snatches of real Mozart-like grace which he clearly could not resist inserting. In the same way, the Adagio cantabile, which is the third movement, begins with a melody which Mozart need not have blushed to give us even in a serious work. The last movement, a bustling Presto, is rather like the first in its simple outlines.