Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

Bruno Walter will always be reminded by many virtues, but mostly for this unsaid detail: nobody like could make such circle, who spanned from Mahler to Mozart. This fact epitomizes Mozart from a perspective totally different, the game of light and shadows joined with that aristocratic effluvium that makes an approach absolutely distinct, wiser and remarkable respect the rest of conductors. And this circumstance elevated him far above the rest of the well renowned Mozartian conductors. These winged Andantes, the magnificent employment of the cantabile line and sublime phrasing are proofs more than enough to have this admirable set, pregnant of unforgettable nuance, indomitable personality and genuine conviction.

Don't miss this set.

I think more highly of Bruno Walter's New York Philharmonic Mozart Symphonies than some, and I bought these discs when they came on the US market in 1996. True, they are MONO, and sometimes the sound is a little fierce and cramped, but generally the sound is very good, there is no tape wow or flutter to create an unpleasant sound, and the New York Philharmonic play with great precision under Walter's leadership. These were recorded in 1953-54, just before stereo recordings were being widely made and marketed. If you want to hear Walter conducting Mozart 25, 28, or 29, this is the only game in existence. Sony's engineers have done an excellent remastering job.

Walter also recorded Mozart Symphonies 35, 36, 38, 39, 40 and 41 with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles, made up of freelance studio musicians and some members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, in 1959/60, in stereo. Walter's Los Angeles cycle is more difficult to find as I write this, but perhaps SonyBMG will reissue it.

Walter's tempos are generally faster in New York than they would be later on in Los Angeles, but either way he gives us great Mozart: loving and affectionate, and very sensitive to line and phrase. Bruno Walter (1876-1962) was one of the great Mozart conductors, along with Thomas Beecham, Karl Bohm, Otto Klemperer, and George Szell. Recommended enthusiastically.

Bruno Walter is of course the conductor of genteel Mozart, with thick billowing clouds of sound and a large rotund character. Don't look for depth in Walter; look for the jovial character of easy Viennese living. For the guts and grit, you have to go to HIP performances, because they dig under the grace and get to the fire, right? Right?

Well, like many myths, this one is debunked when one looks a little deeper. Actually, you don't have to look much deeper at all. This recording alone should persuade anyone that Walter could deliver deeper, more demonic Mozart than is commonly believed. This is because most of Walter's recordings known to us today are from his stereo period, right before he died. Indeed in his last years he was mellower and less spontaneous.

But in these and other earlier readings, we have a door to a Walter many people today aren't familiar with--slashing accents, brisk tempi, a sound that, while certainly not thin, is lithe and agile. Just listen to the opening movement of No. 29, for example--the strings practically leap up and down with excitement, and the phrasing is supple and animated in a way you rarely hear today--the Columbia Symphony Orchestra practically sounds Viennese! Slow movements in this set are deep and serene, with a naturalness of phrasing modern ensembles can't match. More noteworthy, however, is the dark side in many of these recordings, such as the "little" G minor symphony. This is not the type of temperment you'd expect from the genial old man we've all come to know, but it was there. And who cares if these recordings are "correct" or not. Today's scholarship will change in 40 years too, and many of today's Gardiner and Hogwood recordings will be looked upon as relics someday.

Sony has made things a bit confusing here. Over time they have released both Walter's later stereo Columbia Mozart readings and these earlier mono recordings, several different ways. You may think you already have "these" recordings, only to find you have one set but not the other. If I could have only one, it would be the earlier, mono recordings. Sure the sound isn't quite as good (though it's very good in general) and sure, repeats are skipped--repeat-skipping was the norm of the day. Of the later stereo recordings, only No. 35 compares with, and probably even surpasses, this reading for grandeur and nobility.

There are other Sony recordings in this series of Walter's mono Mozart symphonies, including one fascinating disc where he rehearses the entire Linz symphony bar for bar. I highly recommend them all. But if you are confronted with a choice between these mono performances and the later stereo recordings in better sound (and not all that much better, actually, save they are in stereo), I'd recommend you choose these in a heartbeat. And be prepared for some passionate Mozart playing you rarely hear in this Mozart-is-good-for-your-brain age.

Overall, this CD is so so. The first movement of Symphony no. 25 has a lot of squeaky violins and that makes it hard to listen to. It also only lasts 4'42 and the other recordings that I've heard were usually at least 7 minutes long. The fourth movement is a bit slow. I'm not too familiar with Symphony no. 28. It sounds okay. the first movement seems a bit short. It's about 4 minutes long. Symphony no. 29 doesn't sound too bad. Like Symphony no. 25, the first movement is about 3 minutes shorter than usual. The last selection on this CD, the "Haffner" symphony, is performed the best. It is a good performance, but it cannot compare to the live performance given by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra during this past season. Like the other symphonies, the first movement of this one is also a few minutes shorter than usual. I wouldn't recommend this CD because all 4 of the symphonies have the repeats taken out.