Mozart: 51 Symphonies ~ Tate [Box set]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Jeffrey Tate (Conductor), English Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra
• Conductor: Jeffrey Tate
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Audio CD (November 4, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 12
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B0000BWTKM
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,801 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent survey of Mozart's symphonies, April 21, 2004

By 

W. Hill (Newark, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mozart: 51 Symphonies ~ Tate (Audio CD)

I would highly recommend this set! I have 3 complete sets of Mozart symphonies -- this one, Karl Bohm's, and the Mackerass discussed below, and I must say that Tate is my favorite. The Mackerass seems dry to my ears -- perhaps it's the harpsichord -- the sound is somewhat flat, and the performances can be a bit lifeless. Bohm's performances and orchestra are superb, but the sound is dated, the style can seem a bit heavy at times, and most of the repeats are cut. Tate seems to bring everything you could want to the table -- a fine ensemble, great sound, refined elegant playing, and he includes a number of early symphonies that the others lack. Mozart covers a lot of ground in these 51 works, and there are certainly better performances of the more famous individual symphonies out there -- but if you want them all at once from a single point of view, Tate's survey provides an excellent perspective.

If you have the $$$, this would be my recommendation for a complete set of Mozart's symphonies. It will provide much enjoyment for many years. For a cheaper symphonic sampling of Mozart, try the recently re-released late symphony collection by Leonard Bernstein in Vienna (more satisfying than Tate in some respects, but not a complete set), or the 2-CD DG set by Bohm of 35-41.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best, December 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mozart: 51 Symphonies ~ Tate (Audio CD)

Tate's set of complete Mozart symphonies is truly most pleasing, and, certainly, one of the best available. It may seem like it's an expensive set, but remember that you are getting 12 CDs for the price...a very good value. The quality of recording is excellent, and so is the performance and interpretation. There are also other very good sets. Pinnock's (and I have to disagree with the previous reviewer) is an excellent set for those who are into authentic performance. Having heard several complete sets of Mozart symphonies on modern instruments, Tate's is one of my most favorite ones. Buy it and enjoy.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A set for completists in stylish, convincing performances, February 13, 2006

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Mozart: 51 Symphonies ~ Tate (Audio CD)

Great music deserves to be an event whenever it is performed, but obviously that can't be the case when a single conductor sets out to record all of Mozart's 41 official symphonies plus relatted fragments and unfinished scores. Complete sets, whoever does them, don't tend to include great performances; one judges them on their average level of artistry. By that measure Jeffrey Tate comes out well. He is an enthusiastic, alert Mozartean who tries hard not to fall into routine, even when the music is less than first-rate.

If you are a completist and can find this 12-CD set for a good price, it's a fine choice, probably better overall than Marriner and the ASMF, whose readings are on the same scale and adhere to the same middle-of-the-road appraoch. In neither set do we get extreme tempos or screechy violins playing without vibrato. These are polished, cultivated readings.

Having said that, there are a number of Mozart symphonies where one wants a great performance, including #25, 29-31, 33-36, and 38-41, each climbing steadily higher on the scale of masterpieces. In these dozen symphonies I would not judge Tate's readings to be at the top of the heap (the same goes for other complete sets by Bohm, Levine, Mackerras, and Marriner that I have sampled). So even if you buy his whole cycle, you are likely to overlap quite a few works in search of greater inspiration. I long ago decided to pick and choose among great recordings, so my Mozart shelf includes Abbado, Bruno Walter, Klemperer, Bernstein, and Karajan, along with selected, lesser readings of early symphonies that major conductors usually don't touch.