The Bohemian musician and composer Johann Went (or Jan Wendt) was a wind player in the Imperial Harmonie (wind band) in Vienna, for which he arranged selections from many operas. Mozart’s music works well on such an ensemble, for not only was his wind part-writing uniquely felicitous, but he often blended voices in the same way (one thinks of the heavenly trio ‘Soave sia il vento’ in Cosi fan tutte). The present arrangements, however, are for flute (here the principal of the Vienna Volksoper) and string trio. The flute dominates, and although the strings are well in the aural picture, not all this music works particularly effectively on such a top-heavy ensemble, for the flute is no substitute for the human voice. Papageno’s music from Die Zauberflote obviously works, and up to a point, lyrical arias like ‘Batti, batti’ and ‘Vedrai, carino’ (both nicely decorated) and perhaps more surprisingly ‘Bei Mannern’. It is all very agreeable and elegant, and beautifully played and recorded, but it remains essentially wallpaper music. One needs to imagine oneself in Demel’s on the Kohlmarkt in Vienna enjoying an Einspanner (Viennese coffee with cream) and providing one’s own musical background.'