Gran Partita

Richard Strauss
Suite in B flat major for thirteen wind instruments op. 4

In the prelude, fanfare motifs wander from the low winds to the flutes. They are contrasted by a melancholy oboe melody. An arabesque for clarinet introduces the romance, rich in tonal colours. The Gavotte is a whimsical ballet intermezzo; in the trio, however, it is slightly ghostly. The final movement begins with a sombre introduction. Horn and clarinet introduce the theme of the concluding fugue, which is not free of irony.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Serenade in B flat major for twelve wind instruments and double bass, K. 361, "Gran Partita"

"The score looked like nothing. The beginning so simple. Almost ridiculous. Just a pulsation, bassoons, basset horns - like a rusty squeezebox. But then suddenly, high above, a lone oboe, a single note, unshakable above it all, until a clarinet picks it up, in a phrase of such heavenly sweetness! This was no composition by a circus monkey! I had never heard music like it. Full of the deepest longing; a longing so insatiable that I trembled and it seemed to me as if I heard the voice of God." This is how Antonio Salieri, Mozart's alleged enemy and rival, expresses himself in the film "Amadeus".

Bläserensemble der Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe
Koordination Prof. Will Sanders