Arrigo Pelliccia, Grumiaux Trio, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields - Mozart: Complete String Trios & Duos (1996) CD-Rip

This is the kind of package which represents the best of the Philips Classics Duo series. Slightly older recordings, but in beautiful, clear, warm analogue sound; artists of the old school and the first rank; a compilation of potentially neglected music made available absurdly cheaply in attractive packaging with high production values and intelligent notes; what's not to like?

Grumiaux is everybody's favourite Mozart violinist: poised, sweet of tone; impeccable intonation - and always accompanied by equally sensitive and accomplished musicians who play as an ensemble without any grandstanding.

The major work here is of course the Divertimento K. 563, which is far from being as lightweight as its title suggests; indeed this typical late Mozart in that there is a poignancy in his superficially insouciant melodies which is never far from tears. This is a work still overshadowed by the late quartets and the quintets, but deserves to be considered alongside them. I also find the incomplete Trio K. 266 to be a lovely work, especially as it allows us to hear that gifted artist Kenneth Sillito.

The notes tell an amusing story about the two Duos which is very much to Mozart's credit and says little for the powers of discriminaton of their dedicatee, the archbishop who had commissioned them. The biggest surprise on these discs, however, is the Six Preludes and Fugues, transcribed in homage to Bach mostly from Bach's own music, in that they represent a kind of fusion of Mozart and Bach which is not always entirely convincing but nonetheless allows us to enjoy much lovely, and sometimes incongruous, music. Sometimes Bach and sometimes Mozart pops his head over the parapet, but rarely do both appear simultaneously. The Adagio which opens no. 3, for example, is pure lyrical Mozart and the succeeding Fuga clearly wholly Bachian.