want best mozart 39
MarcCaroul
I heard Karajan's Mozart 39th symphony on the radio and liked it very much. I
like Gardiner's Beethoven cycle very much and was wondering if his recording of
the Mozart 38 and 39 are as rewarding.
Marc
Tony Movshon
Egad! Chalk and cheese if ever there was. I would avoid both.
Try Fricsay/VSO on DGG, Klemperer on EMI (only in a boxed set), or
Szell on Sony.
Tony Movshon
Center for Neural Science New York University
http://www.cns.nyu.edu mov...@nyu.edu
rkha...@adnc.com
In article <199806041231...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
marcc...@aol.com (MarcCaroul) wrote:
>
> I heard Karajan's Mozart 39th symphony on the radio and liked it very much.
I
> like Gardiner's Beethoven cycle very much and was wondering if his recording
of
> the Mozart 38 and 39 are as rewarding.
>
>
There is, of course, no "best" recording, but I doubt you'll find many
recordings that surpass Peter Maag's latest effort with the Padova Orchestra
(on the ARTS label), coupled with a splendid "Prague" symphony.
Maag takes a luftpause in the last mov. of 39 which I find funny and
irreverent, but quite in the joyful spirit of this movement. Except for this
caveat, his performance is without excentricities and combines energy, polish
and a certain philosophical contemplation that was absent from his brilliant
early recording for Decca (for the Prague symphony). Highly recommended.
Ramon Khalona
Carlsbad, California
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Michael Fine
Jon Eliot Gardiner's recording has his usual panache but I still enjoy
Walter loving and Klemperer's classically poised recordings of this glorious
work. Don't let the age of the recordings deter you.
Michael Fine
MarcCaroul wrote in message
<199806041231...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
Simon Roberts
MarcCaroul (marcc...@aol.com) wrote:
: I heard Karajan's Mozart 39th symphony on the radio and liked it very much. I
: like Gardiner's Beethoven cycle very much and was wondering if his recording of
: the Mozart 38 and 39 are as rewarding.
Gardiner's 38/39 is one of his best discs; if you like his Beethoven,
you'll like this -- similar style. But his 39 is nothing like Karajan's,
with its heavy string playing, soft attacks, and prettified sonorities:
the slow start to the first movement is a masterpiece of smoothed over
edges in Karajan's hands, the crunching horn dissonances barely
registering. My favorite 39 is probably Harnoncourt's first recording,
with the Concertgebouw, which is pretty much the exact opposite of
Karajan's; this is doubtless a minority view....
Simon
Massimo Campostrini
si...@dept.english.upenn.edu (Simon Roberts) writes:
> My favorite 39 is probably Harnoncourt's first recording,
> with the Concertgebouw, which is pretty much the exact opposite of
> Karajan's; this is doubtless a minority view....
I love the Harnoncourt/Concertgebouw's Mozart symphonies, but some of
their tempi are way too slow for my taste.
I agree with you, Harnoncourt/Concertgebouw's 39 is excellent. It is
paired with 38, which is good but slow: 38' compared with 30' by
Maag/Padova (the "right" tempi IMHO, pity that the orchestra is less
then perfect). BTW, H/C 39 is slightly faster then M/P (30' vs. 32').
About the same happens with H/C 40 & 41: 40 is "just right" at 32',
but 41 sounds "drawn out" at 41' (slower then Muti!)
--
Massimo Campostrini,
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa.
Johannes Roehl
Watch out for repeats!
While the first mvmt of Harnoncourts Prague is quite slow, he also takes
the all repeats, so it lasts about 19', the second and third are not slow
at all. I slightly prefer Maag in the Prague, but H.'s 39 is more exciting
than Maags (I haven't decided yet if I like the odd phrasing in 39, iv)
Harnoncourts 40 is also one of my favorites, he takes the first mvmt.
really "allegro molto" and not "andante con moto" as many others. The 41
is quite odd, though, with a slow first mvmt. (but it fits the somewhat
pompous style of the piece) and a wild ride in the last mvmt.
I don't really understand some of the tempo choices H. makes, also in
earlier symphonies (e.g. his 29 is quite slow), but he usually takes all
repeats, so you can't just compare the timings.
Johannes
--
Johannes Roehl Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Physik Come, hear the woodland linnet,
Uni Giessen How sweet his music! on my life,
johanne...@physik.uni-giessen.de There's more of wisdom in it.
-W.Wordsworth
Massimo Campostrini
Johannes Roehl <s6...@mailserv.uni-giessen.de> writes:
> Watch out for repeats!
Oops! You are right, I shouldn't just blindly quote timings.
> While the first mvmt of Harnoncourts Prague is quite slow, he also takes
> the all repeats, so it lasts about 19', the second and third are not slow
> at all. I slightly prefer Maag in the Prague, but H.'s 39 is more exciting
> than Maags (I haven't decided yet if I like the odd phrasing in 39, iv)
> Harnoncourts 40 is also one of my favorites, he takes the first mvmt.
> really "allegro molto" and not "andante con moto" as many others. The 41
> is quite odd, though, with a slow first mvmt. (but it fits the somewhat
> pompous style of the piece) and a wild ride in the last mvmt.
Yes, Harnoucourt is at his best in 39 and 40. And I love the "wild
ride" in the 41; if only the first movement was more lively...
> I don't really understand some of the tempo choices H. makes, also in
> earlier symphonies (e.g. his 29 is quite slow), but he usually takes all
> repeats, so you can't just compare the timings.
I can only compare earlier symphonies with Böhm, who is not bad but
on the dull side.