Dorian Komanoff Bandy and Catherine Cosbey recently released their album Mozart: String Duos on the Leaf Music label. The recording includes arrangements of two violin duets that have never been recorded before.
On the release, the duo perform the composer’s Duo in G Major for Violin and Viola, K. 423, and Duo in B-flat major for Violin and Viola, K. 424. Cosbey plays the violin, and Bandy both violin and viola on 18th century German-made instruments.
Along with the Duos, they perform selections from Mozart’s late opera La clemenza di Tito, K 621, arranged for two violins by Johann Christian Stumpf (1740 – 1800). The operatic excerpts include: I. Come ti piace imponi 8 II. Deh se piacer mi vuoi 9 III. Deh prendi un dolce amplesso 10 VII. Parto, ma tu ben mio 11 VIII. Ah grazie si rendano.
The Violin Sonata in A Major, K. 305 is the second newly recorded arrangement. The anonymous arrangement, created in Paris in 1799, turns the Sonata into a piece for two violins.
We spoke to Dorian Komanoff Bandy and Catherine Cosbey about the recording and their approach to the music. Both musicians are also educators. Cosbey serves on the violin and chamber music faculty of McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. Musicologist and performer Dorian Bandy is an Associate Professor in the Music Research and Music Performance department, with a specialty in Early Music and Music History.
Dorian Komanoff Bandy and Catherine Cosbey: The Interview
Dorian Komanoff Bandy is a leading expert on Mozart, making the composer as the natural focus for the album. “I have just written a book on Mozart and it came out about a year ago,” Dorian explains.
The book, titled Mozart the Performer, Variations on the Showman’s Art, zeroes in to the composer as he was equally or perhaps even better known in his day — as a virtuoso performer. It’s the culmination of a longstanding interest in the composer and his work.
“For a long time, I’ve avoided recording any Mozart,” he says. His research and his performing life don’t often coincide so neatly, but he says the concept had been on his mind for some long time.
“Actually for me, it all is sort of to hear the research in a way. But I don’t want it to sound like an academic paper.”
The goal is to present a performance of Mozart that’s “provocatively different”, which will be a direct result of that research. “I do want to people to think wow — I’ve never heard Mozart played like that,” he says.
Catherine comments that performing Mozart with Dorian when they first met was how she knew he was a musical kindred spirit. “One of the first things we played were the two duos,” she says. “Mozart was the perfect meeting place.” Catherine’s background includes extensive work with string quartets, including the Cavani String Quartet (since 2019), and previously the Cecilia and Linden String Quartets.
“With Dorian’s research was this familiar home. It felt like a good place for us,” she adds.
The music speaks for itself, but discerning listeners will notice the difference in approach. “We do want it to be noticed as different,” Catherine adds. Some people reject the idea of deeply researching the music over the concern that the weight of all the data will overshadow interpretation. Diving into the music, though, is about just the opposite.
“The research is about finding more life in the music,” she says. “We hope the audience and listeners are dazzled by it.”
New Arrangements For Old Music
How is it possible to record a new version of Mozart in 2025? Dorian says the pair were already on the lookout for arrangements of the opera, and found the work of Johann Christian Stumpf. The German composer has left works of his own, as well as chamber arrangements of the operas of Mozart, Salieri, and others.
As Dorian notes, there are multiple existing arrangements and reference recordings of Mozart performed by duos. But, he and Catherine weren’t satisfied with what they found, so they kept looking. What they largely encountered were arrangements that offered one melodic part, and one accompaniment part. They were searching for a more collaborative approach.
The difference is Stumpf. “They were done by a good composer,” Dorian says. “This is not something you can take for granted.”
“It’s constantly back and forth,” says Cosbey. The parts also clearly mimic their original instrumentation. “One of us will be a clarinet,” she laughs. “It brings out the conversational element of music.”
Last spring, they were on the hunt for additional material to complete a full album. As luck would have it, Dorian went to a conference where a friend and fellow researcher announced the discovery of the new arrangements of the sonatas. “She gave us all eight duos,” he says.
Domestic Music-Making
When Mozart wrote the music, and it was initially published, the score itself would serve as the introduction to his music. It was designed to be played at home as entertainment for family and friends.
The recording offers a listen at how the music was originally played and experienced.
“That was another inspiration for the album,” says Catherine. “It’s a way of taking in Mozart as people would have [back then].”
As she points out, when people bought the music in the 1700s and played it at home, they were likely also talking, or surrounded by family who may or may not have behaved as a rapt audience in a concert hall. It’s interesting to consider what it means for the music.
“It’s a cool thing,” she says.
Along with unearthing the new arrangements, Cosbey and Bandy have created a space for improvisation in the piece by adding elaborate embellishments and cadenzas to the performance. The nature of the ornamentation and how it was used was an essential part of Bandy’s research. Today, ornamentation of that type is generally used in music for piano or woodwind, rarely for strings.
“But this is what Mozart, surely, would have done,” Dorian says. While it stands out from today’s performance practice, he calls his approach to improvisation pretty conservative. “It’s very different than with keyboard music,” he says, referring it a playful challenge to pull off as a duo.
“It’s not just the ornamentation.” Dorian notes that, in his book, he calls Mozart essentially a ventriloquist for his ability to write something like a horn call into a viola part. “It’s not just the arias that are operatic.”
He says that he wants to present a more accurate, and multi-layered, understanding of Mozart and his music. “People want Mozart to be beautiful and graceful, and they downplay the drama,” he says, “the messiness of what he does.”
It’s a call to other musicians to experiment more with the treasured music. “To find out what they can do with it.”
- You can find out more about Mozart: String Duos [HERE].
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