Linz Symphony Recommendations?

[rockerreds]

The other day our local Classical station played Mozart's Linz Symphony-I had forgotten what a wonderful piece of music that is!I don't have a recording of it in my collection at present-any recommendations?

[Peregrine]

Beecham/RPO, Walter/CSO, Mackerras/PCO, Reiner/CSO, Bernstein/VPO

[Que]

Harnoncourt / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra



Q

[Don]

I also go with the Mackerras on Telarc.

[Peregrine]

I also go with the Mackerras on Telarc.

I think it's a fantastic set TBH, Mackerras has a good feel for Mozart. The only slight caveat is the reverberant sound that is worse on some of the discs than others (can't remember which ones of the top of my head...), but was never enough of a problem for me, as considered the music making so uniformly excellent.

Worth pointing out though, as it is an oft mentioned gripe... 

[MichaelRabin]

I suppose you want an audio recording but for a video (of course plus audio!) of this - Carlos Kleiber with the VPO is very highly recommended.

[Todd]

Carlos Kleiber:




Or

[MishaK]

Böhm/BPO
Barenboim/ECO

[Mark]

Steer clear of Karajan and the BPO on DG if 'big-boned' orchestral sound isn't your thing in Mozart (and it isn't mine, clearly, as this recording made me realise).

[hornteacher]

I also go with the Mackerras on Telarc.

Yes!  I strongly agree.  The whole cycle is fantastic but especially in the last five (36, 38, 39, 40, 41).

[BorisG]

[Mark]

Steer clear of Karajan and the BPO on DG if 'big-boned' orchestral sound isn't your thing in Mozart (and it isn't mine, clearly, as this recording made me realise).

Thanks for posting the set I was on about.

[MishaK]

Wait! How could I forget! This one is dynamite:



The whole DVD is magnificent. It's got the Haffner, the Linz, PC 22 and the Horn Concerto No.1 with the young new excellent Czech BPO first solo horn Radek Baborak.

[BorisG]

Wait! How could I forget! This one is dynamite:



The whole DVD is magnificent. It's got the Haffner, the Linz, PC 22 and the Horn Concerto No.1 with the young new excellent Czech BPO first solo horn Radek Baborak.

Is it okay if I don't use the video?

[head-case]

IMO, even Harnoncourt couldn't breath life into this turkey, which Mozart reputedly wrote on the spot when  the opportunity for an "academy" came up while he was traveling through Linz and he didn't have any symphonies in his luggage.

Harnoncourt / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra



Q

[MishaK]

Is it okay if I don't use the video?

You can do whatever you want with it.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I hear nothing "turkeyish" (is that a word?) about this symphony, which despite its rapid birth strikes me as the equal of any of the other late Mozart works in this genre. A recording to get is Bernstein's from 1966 with the VPO, coupled with his own performance at the piano of the concerto K. 450. And I don't mind "big-boned" Mozart in the least; after all, Mozart was thrilled with the sound of a large orchestra when he had the chance to hear one in Paris, and I see no reason not to take advantage of the power of a modern symphony orchestra in this powerful music.

[Gurn Blanston]

1 - Mackerras / Prague CO
2 - Harnoncourt / RCG

I have no love for big band Mozart either. And the 1778 Paris orchestra (Concerts Spirituels IIRC) may have had more musicians than normal but they weren't playing modern instruments. I would doubt they matched the 1966 WP for power!



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Now playing:
Suk Quartet / Špelina - Beethoven - Bia 675 Op 104 Quintet in c for Strings 2nd mvmt - Andante cantabile con variazioni

[FideLeo]

Bruggen (Philips).

[(poco) Sforzando]

1 - Mackerras / Prague CO
2 - Harnoncourt / RCG

I have no love for big band Mozart either. And the 1778 Paris orchestra (Concerts Spirituels IIRC) may have had more musicians than normal but they weren't playing modern instruments. I would doubt they matched the 1966 WP for power!

As the photograph in the CD booklet attests, Bernstein reduced the WP strings for that recording. But more to the point, the recording has an unforced, musical spontaneity and grace that especially distinguish it, in my opinion. It's not a big-band bloated sound at all, but wonderfully clear and balanced. The mid 60s were the period when Bernstein was doing some of his best work; he hadn't yet become the portentous caricature of himself that he turned into not long after, and in any case he was always a very restrained and elegant interpreter of Mozart and Haydn. His pianism on the companion K. 450 exemplifies these virtues as well.