Customer Reviews

Mozart: Symphonies 40 & 41/Divertimenti

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Riccardo Muti's Mozart may not appeal to everyone. He uses, as one would expect, a full orchestra, in this case, the Vienna Philharmonic to perform Mozart's Divertimento in D Major, and Symphonies 40 in G minor and 41 in C Major, "Jupiter." No one can fault Muti's tempos or interpretations which are fairly straight forward and free of excesses. What some listeners will not like are the repeats: REPEATS, REPEATS, REPEATS!

One AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE reviewer wrote in a review of a Mozart Symphony CD with Muti as conductor, "Muti never finds a repeat he doesn't like." And aint that the truth here! Both the Symphonies here are as long as a middle period Beethoven Symphony - over 30 minutes - with all the repeats Muti takes.
The use of repeats for Exposition and Development sections in I and IV of each symphony, and even in II of Symphony 41 (!) make each one long, and some listeners will find this tiresome. Still, the Vienna Philharmonic have Mozart in their blood and could play this music in their sleep, and Philips and the ORF engineers have caught them in beautiful DDD stereo sound, with great video to match. Even though Karl Bohm's Berlin Philharmonic Mozart Symphonies 40 and 41 (DG CD, analog stereo sound from the early 1960s) are among my favorite recordings of these works, I enjoy Muti, too. Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic have great rapport, and I can tell the VPO musicians enjoy collaborating with him.

Muti is not a distraction to watch on the podium. He is dramatic and uses bold gestures, but is not distracting, nor does he call attention to himself. Muti serves Mozart with his conducting: well, it's 1/2 the Vienna Philharmonic's Mozart, but Muti doesn't get in the way of this great music.

This was recorded at the Salzburg Festival in 1991, and the color and picture are very good, full screen 4:3 picture resolution. The sound is very good, and on my small stereo system benefitted from the loudness contour: a slight boost of bass and treble frequencies. Recommended if you want a DVD of Mozart's Symphonies 40 and 41, and the D Major Divertimento - not often encountered in my experiences with Mozart recordings -is a treat, too.

A very nice performance and well produced DVD. The divertimenti sounds better with a smaller ensemble but was non the less very enjoyable to listen to. Sym 40 & 41 were all very good but not magical, except for the menuettos which had excellent tempo and feel. Very enjoyable!