Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica ‎– After Mozart

2001 Grammy Award Winner

After Mozart, the 2001 Grammy winner for Best Small Ensemble Performance, by Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, brings together the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (and his father, Leopold), with three contemporary works inspired by him. The works included, by contemporary Eastern European composers such as Alexander Raskatov, Valentin Silvestrov and Alfred Schnittke, invoke Mozart’s memory in ways direct and more subtle, and the more familiar Mozart pieces sandwiched in serve to bring the listener to a new way of hearing the more familiar pieces. The disc is an attempt, in Kremer’s words, to “set Mozart in the frame of our own time.”

Opening the disc is 5 Min. aus dem Leben von W.A.M. (“Five Minutes from the Life of W.A. Mozart”) by Moscow-born composer Alexander Raskatov, named “one of the most interesting composers of his generation” by Alfred Schnittke. The young Canadian pianist Naida Cole is soloist in Valentin Silvestrov’s The Messenger. And Schnittke himself is represented by his sardonic Moz-Art à la Haydn, a humorous reflection on the two Austrian masters, scored for two violins and strings. Mozart’s Serenata Notturna in D Major and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, one of his most widely known works, round out the disc, which closes with Leopold Mozart’s Kinder-Symphonie (“Berchtolsgadener”) in C Major.

MUSICIANS
Gidon Kremer, solo violin (1, 5, 10), violin I (6-9), vioin II (2-4)
Eva Bindere, violin I (2-4), violin II (6-9), solo violin (10)
Ula Ulijona, viola (2-4, 6-9)
Danielis Rubinas, bass (2-4, 6-9)
Andrey Pushkarev, percussion (2-4)
Naida Cole, piano (5)
Marta Sudraba, cello (6-9)

Kremerata Baltica:
Violin: Dzeraldas Bidva, Eva Bindere*, Migle Diksaitiene, Darius Diksaitis, Andrejs Golikovs, Inga Gylyte, Elo Ivask, Miroslava Kotorovytch, Marija Nemanyte, Migle Serapinaite, Oskars Silins, Sandis Steinbergs*, Andrei Valigura*, Rasa Vosyliute, Sanita Zarina
Viola: Jānis Lielbardis*, Michal Ondruj, Ula Ulijona*, Vidas Vekerotas, Zita Zemovica
Cello: Peteris Čirkšis, Giedre Dirvanauskaite, Ilze Grudule, Eriks Kirsfelds*, Marta Sudraba*
Bass: Danielis Rubinas, Indrek Sarrap
Cembalo: Reinut Tepp
Piano: Naida Cole
Percussion: Andrey Pushkarev
* Leaders

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Helmut Mühle and Gidon Kremer
Engineered by Philipp Nedel
Edited by Gudrun Maurer

Track 1
Recorded June 2000 at Angelika-Kauffmann-Saal, Schwarzenberg, Austria
Assistant Engineer: Jörg Mohr

Tracks 2-4 and 6-9
Recorded October 1999 at St. Johannis-Kirche Harvestehude, Hamburg, Germany
Assistant Engineer: Niels Müller

Tracks 5, 10, and 11-13
Recorded September 2000 at Feldkirch Conservatory Chapel, Feldkirch, Austria
Assistant Engineer: René Möller
Effects by Gudrun Maurer, Gidon Kremer and Helmut Mühle

Design by Evan Gaffney
Cover image: © Bettmann/Corbis