Mozart Variations

New Age Collections ~ Windham Hill Mozart Variations

Stately and subdued, Mozart Variations joins The Impressionists and Bach Variations as interpretive projects involving Windham Hill artists and a gathering of guest performers. The disc's overall mood is largely reverential, though its periodic departures from tradition are surprisingly successful. Mike Marshall's mandolin-driven "Allegro from the Serenade #13 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusic'" is a dignified charmer, and William Coulter's Celtic embellishments give "Theme from Symphony #40" a lively, unexpected spin. John Lee Sanders engineers perhaps the album's biggest left turn by applying a restrained soprano saxophone to "Et In Carnatus Est (from Mass in C Minor)." Arrangements that most effectively intertwine classical and contemporary influences: a lovely rendering of "Menuett #6" by pianist Liz Story and Paul McCandless's adaptation of "Motet 'Ave Verum Corpus'" for wind instruments and acoustic guitar. --Terry Wood