Mozart

[Valentino]

So I've discovered a Mozart piece! 

Symphony no. 26 in E flat K. 184. It came to me in a BPO/Böhm Symphony 25-41 LP box set. It's some nine minutes of absolute delight, but not very hip.
Are there any good modern hip performances of this? Favourites and recommendations are much appreciated.

Also don't hesitate to send me somewhere else to ask.

[Jo498]

Harnoncourt/Concentus (he has also an older recording with the Concertgebouw) certainly makes this a BIG piece but it's probably the only two I have on CD. I had Krips? or Marriner or so on LP 30 years ago.

[Gurn Blanston]

So I've discovered a Mozart piece! 

Symphony no. 26 in E flat K. 184. It came to me in a BPO/Böhm Symphony 25-41 LP box set. It's some nine minutes of absolute delight, but not very hip.
Are there any good modern hip performances of this? Favourites and recommendations are much appreciated.

Also don't hesitate to send me somewhere else to ask.

My personal favorite is Hogwood/AAM. I don't know if it is available outside the 19 disk box set though. They were all released as single disks, maybe there are still some out there. Very nice playing, and totally HIP. 😊

🤠😎

[Valentino]

Much appreciated, Jo498 and Gurn. Found this and was going to tell the world:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7930260--mozart-symphonies-salzburg-1772-1773

But you know British salesmen quoting British reviewers... That said the same conductor an band in the Basson concerto is one of my treasures.

[Gurn Blanston]

Much appreciated, Jo498 and Gurn. Found this and was going to tell the world:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7930260--mozart-symphonies-salzburg-1772-1773

But you know British salesmen quoting British reviewers... That said the same conductor an band in the Basson concerto is one of my treasures.

Oh, those are the same recordings I was telling you about, just a part of them (although they have probably done all of them) in a re-release box. If you think you want it, I can heartily recommend.

[kyjo]

I'd have loved Mozart's output much more till now had he written more works in minor keys. That is one reason why I love Beethoven so much over other Classics.

Although I love many of the works he wrote in major keys, I get your point. Those works he did write in minor keys really are quite special and show a darker side of his musical personality.

Lately I've noticed that Mozart had a great affinity for the noble key of E-flat major. Some of my favorite works of his are in this key:

Symphony no. 39
Piano Concerti nos. 14 and 22
Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola
Divertimento for String Trio
String Quintet no. 6

[Symphonic Addict]

Although I love many of the works he wrote in major keys, I get your point. Those works he did write in minor keys really are quite special and show a darker side of his musical personality.

Lately I've noticed that Mozart had a great affinity for the noble key of E-flat major. Some of my favorite works of his are in this key:

Symphony no. 39
Piano Concerti nos. 14 and 22
Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola
Divertimento for String Trio
String Quintet no. 6

That is a wonderful selection of works! I couldn't live without any of them. In minor keys, one of the works I don't particularly enjoy is the 20th Concerto in D minor, nevertheless. The Symphony No. 25 in G minor has noteworthy features too in my view, and the String Quintet and Symphony No. 40 in the same key, etc.

[kyjo]

That is a wonderful selection of works! I couldn't live without any of them. In minor keys, one of the works I don't particularly enjoy is the 20th Concerto in D minor, nevertheless. The Symphony No. 25 in G minor has noteworthy features too in my view, and the String Quintet and Symphony No. 40 in the same key, etc.

I like the "operatic" PC no. 20 quite well, but I think the slow movement is a bit overrated. The first movement of the Symphony no. 25 is one of my favorite movements in Mozart - such vigor and excitement!

[Valentino]

Funny you should write that. 

One of my early LP purchases was the Gulda/WPO/Abbado coupling of nos. 20 & 21. 20/II is still one of my absolute favourites, and I've just have had a new revelation by Andsnes and Mahler CO in the MM1785 release. That is a very nice double CD btw, and the programme on CD2 there is just about perfect.

Saw Elvira Madigan (1967) yesterday evening, found it on a streaming service. Weirdly enough we'd never seen it any of us. It started in the morning. CD1 of MM1785 was playing, and the wife said "The previos one is beautiful". "You mean the slow movement from pc 21? The one called Elvira madigan?". "Elvira Madigan? Some grown up called me Elvira Madigan when I was a teenager on a summer job. Why is it called the Elvira Madigan?". Me explaining, telling the story of DG being extremely reluctant to offer the recording to the very unkultivertes medium film, but giving in, ending up putting Pia Degermark on the cover of the Geza Anda LP and shifting tons of vinyl because of it. It's the version my dad always plays. He was 27 in 67, I was 2.

[Jo498]

Lately I've noticed that Mozart had a great affinity for the noble key of E-flat major. Some of my favorite works of his are in this key:

Symphony no. 39
Piano Concerti nos. 14 and 22
Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola
Divertimento for String Trio
String Quintet no. 6

Especially in the later years there might have been some masonic association with that key as it is also the "main key" of The Magic Flute. And with clarinets or woodwinds in general as also the octet/serenade K 375, the quintet K 452 and the "Kegelstatt" trio K 498 (where my nickname comes from ) show. In the Sinfonia concertante and the last quintet, Mozart produces a "darker" sound with helpf of violas. Whereas the great early concerto K 271 is more traditionally brilliant.

[Madiel]

For the serenades and divertimenti, how do people rate Marriner / Academy of St Martin in the Fields? In both the orchestral ones and the smaller chamber ones.

I'm attracted to these performances in part because they seem to consistently include the introductory marches. This is by no means guaranteed in performances.



(I know the albums have been boxed and repackaged extensively, but I do like these covers.)

[Jo498]

I have seen the marches on other recordings but no idea how systematically they were included by whom. I have not heard these two discs but an earlier one on Decca (K 334, 525, 286?) and a bunch of symphonies and other chamber music from their later 70s/80s Philips recordings. They are all excellent in their way, good to great sound, virtuoso playing. Compared to Vegh or Harnoncourt not the most characterful but it is obviously to be questioned if Harnoncourt and some other HIPsters might not make too much out of some serenades that are after all just serenades

[Madiel]

It looks like Vegh includes the marches, so I will try him at least as I gather his set is quite highly regarded. And I can find some evidence of Harnoncourt doing so as well.

[DavidW]

My standard has been Vegh for the serenades for quite awhile, but I used to have a bunch of Marriner Mozart on tape and I have fond memories.  We're talking mid-90s here so time I think for a fresh listen.

[Jo498]

Yes, they included them at least for some pieces and they didnt record all of the pieces anyway, I believe. I think Harnoncourt is worth seeking out for the two large scale serenades K 250 "Haffner" and 320 "Posthorn" although they are with Staatskapelle Dresden, so not original instruments. 
At his best, Vegh has for me a "natural flair" that makes the interpretations special compared to the "clean virtuosity" of Marriner. But I had the direct comparison only in a couple of pieces, K 334 and 525, not any of the pieces on the later Philips Marriner disc shown above.

[Madiel]

Yes, they included them at least for some pieces and they didnt record all of the pieces anyway, I believe.

Possibly Vegh only recorded the ones for certain forces. The numbering and labelling of works as 'Serenade' or 'Divertimento' (or as something else) is a total mess. There are some for orchestra (mostly serenades), some for smaller scale strings and wind (mostly divertimenti), and some just for wind instruments (more divertimenti but also serenades).  I had to map it all out (based on the Phillips boxes) before it made any sense.

And only some of the works have an associated March. The 'Posthorn' serenade gets 2 of them.

[Florestan]

Possibly Vegh only recorded the ones for certain forces. The numbering and labelling of works as 'Serenade' or 'Divertimento' (or as something else) is a total mess. There are some for orchestra (mostly serenades), some for smaller scale strings and wind (mostly divertimenti), and some just for wind instruments (more divertimenti but also serenades).  I had to map it all out (based on the Phillips boxes) before it made any sense.

And only some of the works have an associated March. The 'Posthorn' serenade gets 2 of them.

And the Posthorn is conspicuously missing from the Vegh set, which otherwise is perfect. 

I think the Marriner recordings are included in the complete Mozart Philips Edition, which is the only such set I have.

Btw, does anyone have any opinion on the newer complete Mozart set, the one with Harnoncourt for sacred music? Should I get it as well?

[Madiel]

And the Posthorn is conspicuously missing from the Vegh set, which otherwise is perfect. 

Yes, I just found this out. Apparently it's missing because he did it previously for a different label.

[DavidW]

And the Posthorn is conspicuously missing from the Vegh set, which otherwise is perfect. 

That is quite an omission!  The Posthorn is literally my favorite one (with the Gran Partita being second favorite).

[Florestan]

That is quite an omission!  The Posthorn is literally my favorite one (with the Gran Partita being second favorite).

Wow! My favourite serenades exactly. The third is the Haffner.

Why Vegh skipped the Posthorn has always been a mystery to me.