BaL 26.03.11 - Mozart Symphony no 25 in G minor.

[Nick Armstrong]

I didn't include the Krips version in the list, as it isn't generally available here. I have it on LP as part of the earlier (not entirely complete) Philips Mozart edition, and I agree that there are some fine performances in the set (including the slowest K.550 1st movement ever - yet it works). However, since it's downloadable, I'll add it on.

[umslopogaas]

french frank, post 12

Bohm should be good enough for all time. I'll tolerate the current fashion for 'authenticity' without much enthusiasm, since to me it overplays scholarship and eliminates 'interpretation' from the presentation: yes, the composer left us a score, which is more or less his/her thoughts, sometimes skeletal, sometimes detailed and they should be respected, indeed, revered, but no composer left us the last word and none of them ever will, ever. (OK, rebuttal, I know there are composers who think they did. But the arguments have not subsided. Was it Berlioz, Xenakis, or Messiaen, or someone around them, who left us fantastically detailed scores of how their music should PRECISELY and for all time, be played? I dont remember, but in any case, I dont think there will ever be a last word. That's creativity. Someone has to get out and up there, and make it happen. Music doesnt hang on the wall for all time, the score is just the beginning, not the final oil painting).

Cellini, Mr Gongong, you know about this?

In the meantime, I'll make do with Marriner and the ASMF. Argo LP ZRG 706, wonderful playing of number 25, a spring in their heels that we now take for granted in this music, but at the time (1972) was just exhilarating. That'll do, they blew the cobwebs off Beecham and Boult and ... fill in your own dullards.

And after all, Mozart or not, its only number twenty five. There's a lot more to come.

Just noticed that with respect to traditionalists versus iconoclasts, I dont know where I stand. Not a problem, there are no right and wrong answers.

STOP WITTERING AND SEND!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

In the meantime, I'll make do with Marriner and the ASMF. Argo LP ZRG 706, wonderful playing of number 25, a spring in their heels that we now take for granted in this music, but at the time (1972) was just exhilarating. That'll do, they blew the cobwebs off Beecham and Boult and ... fill in your own dullards.

...except that Beecham and Boult didn't record no. 25. But I presume you were speaking more generally - but I'd hardly use the word "cobwebs" in relation to Beecham's magnificent interpretations of Mozart.

[umslopogaas]

Post 18 Eine Alpensinfonie

Woops, I should be more careful with my sentence construction. What I meant to say was "the likes of Boult and Beecham". I'm sure you are right, I just checked through my discs and there are no symphony 25 recordings by those two. What I was trying to say was that I found the ASMF and Marriner a breath of fresh air after more conventional, old-fashioned interpretations.

At the risk of being hurled into outer darkness, I dont share the general adulation of Beecham. I cant deny he did some fine things, but what little I have read about him, and what I have heard of recorded interviews, suggests to me an unpleasant person. I'll not say more, its only a personal impression, but I'm glad I never met him, or had to work with him.

[verismissimo]

I suppose this symphony's best known appearance is near the beginning of Amadeus when it is discovered that Salieri has tried to kill himself.

How dramatic that was. And what vivid playing by ASMF/Marriner.

Currently in love with Prague CO/Mackerras.

[BBMmk2]

Oh no!! i cant believe it! You can't be serious, more Mozart??????????

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It may be "more Mozart", but this is a single work being given serious consideration - not the indiscriminate wallpaper of early January.

[BBMmk2]

True enough EA. Just seems so soon after the blanket wall to wall affair R3 had earlier on :)

[Don Petter]

Wonderful to hear Chris de Souza after too long a time.

As a BaL, however, pretty boring - though that is down to the work being ditto.

[gurnemanz]

Wot, no Pinnock or did I blink and miss it?

[Nick Armstrong]

Wonderful to hear Chris de Souza after too long a time.

As a BaL, however, pretty boring - though that is down to the work being ditto.

It's not the greatest piece in the world, is it? But I enjoyed hearing BAL back to a format - the familiar old one - that allows frequent comparison of the same passages. That's been lacking the 'building a library only from recent releases' alternatives in recent weeks. CdS always listenable to as well, and it was good to hear Barbirolli and Bernstein in this music, even if Sir Todger won the 'prize'.

A good listen, all in all, for me.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I agree. Good to have BaL back to as it should be and I thoroughly enjoyed CdS's review. Koopman, Pinnock and Mackerras happily nestling on m shelves, so no great compunction to add to them. Even so, an interesting listen.

[Gordon]

Yes an interesting review but not a major library work - it lives in the shadow of its greater namesake perhaps.

I prefer this single presenter format of BAL - the one thing I do get annoyed about is that they don't state the field at the start, it only takes a few seconds - even if they rule some out immediately for one reason or another and not worthy of a quotation. We all know of versions of this not so well recorded piece that could have been candidates had they been available - but were they or weren't they? One presumes these really were all the "currently available" ones? Presumably the Pinnock/EC version for example - which we all know exists - isn't currently in the catalogue?

Anyway, available where? Do downloads count or imports? Surely in this day and age of global reach and Google the avid collector is quite capable of seeking out things even if they are in obscure places. The BBC research people must have access to discographies and international catalogues etc and after all isn't that what we expect them to be doing on our behalf? If they can't find/get the recordings then perhaps neither can we so tell us that too. Present the research and comment and then let the listener decide where he wishes to purchase his preferred choice.

Or are we suffering the budget problem that there is a fee for the presenter and certain man hours of research in the CDR office and they only go so far? Do it well or don't do it at all?

[amateur51]

Perhaps it's a bit arrogant of me to post the same remarks in two different places but ...

"This was a return to form for BAL, as you say Caliban, and I thought that Chris de Souza did an excellent job.

I was pleased too that Andrew told us that in buying Barbirolli's 'live' 1940 performance, you also get K595 with Robert Casadesus AND Benny Goodman in the Clarinet concerto - certainly a 'must have' for me. "

[DracoM]

Agree with many - an exemplary BAL.

Learnt a lot, heard a lot, in this unfussy, focused and revealing evaluation. Not sure I would entirely endorse the final choice, but the whole session was thought-provoking and instructive.