Harmonia Mundi: HMC902010

Vicente Martín y Soler, nicknamed 'the Valencian Mozart', was as famous in his own day as his Austrian contemporary. His biggest success, the opera Una cosa rara, is a combination of beauty and honesty, in the person of a charming peasant girl! The work was arranged for wind ensemble by Johann Nepomuk Wendt, and Mozart quoted from it in Don Giovanni. The programme is completed by premiere recordings of three divertimenti from a set of six, held in the British Library in the form of a set of instrumental parts, which was rediscovered and edited by Salvador Sanchís in 2005. MoonWinds, formed in 2005 at the instigation of Joan Enric Lluna, brings together Spain's most outstanding soloists. Since the group's first concerts in 2006 at the Auditori de Torrent in Valencia and at the Auditori de Barcelona, its performances have aroused the enthusiasm of critics and public.The first recording of MoonWinds with harmonia mundi, Mozart's Gran Partita, received a warm welcome from the international press in 2006.