Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik; Ein musikalischer Spass; Divertimento K136

The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble, without Sir Neville Marriner but very much in his spirit, plays Eine kleine Nachtmusik as Mozart intended, with a string quartet and added bass. It is a very fine reading, though some ornaments and figures are, in modern fashion, smoothed over rather than clearly articulated, and some are even misplayed. The sound is excellent, close up, and naturally balanced. --Ted Libbey