Works for chamber orchestra and clarinet quintet performed by A Far Cry and Musicians from Marlboro with clarinetist Anthony McGill.Mozart: Serenata Notturna, K. 239Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581Like most composers of his day, Mozart relied on commissions—works written “to order” for patrons and performers. We begin with one of Mozart’s many nocturnes, a sprightly, cheerful style of piece usually commissioned for a special occasion. Written to be played during a party, the nocturne was in a way the “Muzak” of its day, but Mozart turned the form into one of his signatures. It begins with a delightful march, during which the musicians would have likely processed into the room while playing from memory. Second on the program is a piece composed for the virtuoso clarinetist Anton Stadler, a player in the court orchestra in Vienna and a longtime friend of Mozart’s. Stadler often played an instrument called the basset clarinet, which had an expanded low range, and Mozart’s quintet was written with this instrument in mind. The piece has been reworked a bit for the modern clarinet, though some modern musicians have also recorded the piece on instruments created to resemble Stadler’s.