Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 25, 28, 29 & 35

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Bruno Walter (Conductor), Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), New York Philharmonic (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Columbia Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic
• Conductor: Bruno Walter
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Audio CD (October 31, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002A81
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,942 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Mozart!, July 27, 2002

By 

"niveditahr" (CHENNAI,INDIA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 25, 28, 29 & 35 (Audio CD)

Despite the poor rating by a few of other reviewers I went ahead and bought this GEM.These are quite simply among the finest performances of these delightful symphonies.The sound quality,being a mono recording,is below par(that is why 4 stars)but still is quite serviceable.Now let us come to the performances-Symphony no25 opens enegetically with a nice rhythmic thrust and dash and the strings are outstanding.The slow movement that follows is a caressing reverie with a tinge of regret beautifully shaped.the third movement,a minuet starts on a bright note with the strings playing a nice rhthmic Theme leading to a celestial Oboe theme taken up by the woodwinds.The Legendary Walter's signature is quite in evidence,in that he does not miss to point to some of these inner voices which would normally get drowned in other breezy performances by lesser conductors.The final movement is given a good thrust and the Symphony comes to a triumphant finish.
The other symphonies (nos 28,29 and 35)are simply outstanding.I need not go into their virtues.Suffice it to say that Bruno walter was one of the greatest conductors of Mozart,besides Karl Bohm and Peter Maag.I also wish to draw attention to the other Great Performances of Bruno Walter of the Mozart Symphonies nos 36and 38,39,40,41.Also listen to Walter's Eine Kleine Nacht Music and other overtures.They are all peerless readings.Just what is so special about them?I will quote the Great Maestro"My task in performing Mozart had become clear to me:Every characteristic and truthful detail must be given powerful dramatic expression without impairing the vocal and orchestral beauty.This beauty permitted no exaggeration in Dynamics and Tempo....The problem therefore consisted in achieving all fulness of expression within the limits prescribed by beauty and in resolutely filling that beauty with musical and Dramatic Power without putting an earthly burden upon its unearthly lightness".
I have other recordings of these pieces ,some of the modern recordings including Barry Wordsworth(Very Good performances)on the Naxos Label.Yet Walter's Mozart has a magic all its own and that is what plays on my CD player most of the time!
I strongly recommend that you give yourself a Nice Treat!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Reading. Some reservations though., February 7, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 25, 28, 29 & 35 (Audio CD)

For the listener accustomed to Bruno Walter's CBS/Sony recordings, the sonic qualities of this disc may disappoint.
These recordings, made in New York some 7-8 years before Walter's landmark recordings with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra in Hollywood, are not up to the same recording quality of the later discs.

On interprative grounds these recordings are worthy of note for the serious collector of Mozart or Bruno Walter recordings. Walter's approach is distinctive and these recordings would complement other definitive readings of these works such as Mackerras/Prague CO, or Karajan/VPO (No. 35), or Szell/Cleveland (No. 35). The mono recordings, though not as warm as they could be, offer an ample sound and good detail.

Finally you get four symphonies on one disc. The repeats are not followed (a fact of life for many LP-era recordings). Yet no other offering on the market gives you these four symphonies, on one disc, at mid-price: a real boon for serious collectors.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking Mozart from Walter in New York, March 14, 2006

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

This review is from: Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 25, 28, 29 & 35 (Audio CD)

Bruno Walter was a Mozart specialist and heir to the Viennese performance tradition (he was born less than a century after Mozart's death). These mono recordings date from 1954 (Sym. #25, 28, 29) and 1953 (Sym. #35), recorded in excellent sound for their era thanks to the location at Columbia's 30th St. studio. Fitting four symphonies on a single 73 min. CD requires an absence of repeats and almost no pause between movements--the latter is a bit disconcerting at first.

Walter's tempos are much less relaxed than in his classic stereo readings from his last years in Hollywood. That period produced great Mozazrt recordings, too, but one feels extra vigor and alertness in the earlier recordings, and the playing from the NY Phil. is a notch more expert and vivacious than what we get from the Columbia Symphony. Anyone familiar with Walter's image as a mellow, fuzzy conductor will be surprised at how vital these readings are--the opening allegro of the "little G minor" Sym. 25 is breathtaking, not simply for being fast but for its inner life and intensity. These qualities hold good throughout. To modern ears the minuets are a bit lumpy and the slow movements overly romantic, but within those limits these are timeless interpretations, one of the glories of Walter's discography.