28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb Mozart Symphonies CD set, October 26, 1998
This review is from: Mozart: Complete Symphonies (Audio CD)
Where intended, Marriner has his ASMITF French Horn section play much in the higher octave, adding authenticity and brilliance in Mozart's early symphonies on this Philips CD set. Krips conducts the RCO with care and gets seemingly correct tempos and phrasing in the later symphonies. The Symphony No. 34 in C is a gem of a performance making other recordings of it seem all too rushed. The "Prague" (No. 38) is incomperable, much like Bruno Walter's but with a much better orchestra. Sound is top quality throughout. I especially recommend this Mozart Symphony set to those Mozart fans who have become "tired" of many of those "authentic instrumentation" performances of late.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You haven't fallen in love with His symphonies, yet..., March 11, 2002
This review is from: Mozart: Complete Symphonies (Audio CD)
Every phrase ever so beautifully formed and sounded with the help of the group that has that wonderful heavenly tone that could have been made to play Mozart - the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (really only one of the few that deserve such a title), Josef Krips, a man who had devoted his career to the study of Mozart, deliver performances that closest match the achievement of the works themselves. Perhaps not known widely Josef Krips had a uncommon gift of forming and bringing out in his sensitive and loving way (savoring of Bruno Walter) the pictorial elements in the work, and having his roots in the stage, he was especially skilled in overlapping elements in Mozart's operatic work; of drama and humane feeling, and with those of his orchestral output; of philosophical resignation and a powerful otherworldly influence along perfect grace. You will be able to tell, he was a true Mozartean - one of the very few on record. And of his examination of the composer he wrote (included in the booklet of the as excellent Don Giovanni record on Decca): "Mozart is, of all composers, the most difficult to conduct, and I can tell you why: two bars and you are suddenly transported to heaven. It's very hard to keep your bearings when you are there."
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Krips and the Concertgebouw Orchestra are the reason to buy this set, December 1, 2005
This review is from: Mozart: Complete Symphonies (Audio CD)
If you're looking at this set and wondering if you should buy it, Josef Krips and the Concertgebouw Orchestra are the reason to purchase this set. Krips conducts Symphonies 21-41, or 6 discs worth: 50% of this set of Mozart Symphonies. The Concertgebouw Orchestra plays beautifully, as you would expect, and have the perfect sense of Mozart's style, served so well and warmly by Krips' conducting. Krips' Mozart deserves to stand with the other "greats" in the Mozart later symphonies:
Bohm/Berlin (DG); Klemperer/Philharmonia (EMI); Szell/Cleveland (Sony); Bruno Walter/Columbia (CBS) or New York Philharmonic (Sony "Bruno Walter Edition"); and Beecham/Royal Philharmonic (EMI: Symphony 41; Sony UK: Symphonies 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41) and London Philharmonic (Dutton). Tempos are never rushed, but Krips is sometimes faster than Bohm or Klemperer in some Allegro movements, but never to the detriment of Mozart's music. One prime example I recall is III of Symphony 26 in E flat Major: Krips is much faster than Bohm in this short movement, but it doesn't destroy the music.
Neville Marriner leads Symphonies 1-21, plus a number of other symphonies attributed to or by Mozart, but outside the regular numbering system or Kochel numbers, etc. Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields have excellent credentials as Mozart experts, and with good reason: they have made some great Mozart recordings on EMI and Philips. Here, however, Marriner and co. sound boring and routine in some of the earlier symphonies, and the harpsichord clatters away mercilessly; perhaps better phrasing and forward motion would have corrected this impression. But Marriner IS of value here for the Symphonies like 47, 52, etc. which are rarely, if ever recorded elsewhere. If you want to hear Marriner/ASMF in the later Mozart Symphonies, go for their EMI and Seraphim recordings, regularly available through Amazon.com.
This is a valuable set, and I'm glad to have it mostly for the Krips recordings.
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