BaL 23.11.24 - Mozart: Symphony 40 (in G minor, K550)

[smittims]

I was put off for a while, by the 20th-century deconstructionist attitide to the work ,seeing it as tragic and crisis-ridden ,a sort of 'Cold-War' reaction, I thought. I well remember Leonard Bernstein overdoing the start of the fnale development section, trying to make it sound like Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements. A minor key in 18th century music doesn't have to involve this, as Handel shows many times. Now I incline more to Schumann's view of it as a miracle of light and grace.

[LMcD]

I was put off for a while, by the 20th-century deconstructionist attitide to the work ,seeing it as tragic and crisis-ridden ,a sort of 'Cold-War' reaction, I thought. I well remember Leonard Bernstein overdoing the start of the fnale development section, trying to make it sound like Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements. A minor key in 18th century music doesn't have to involve this, as Handel shows many times. Now I incline more to Schumann's view of it as a miracle of light and grace.

Do you think Waldo de los Rios will make the short list?

[vinteuil]

Do you think Waldo de los Rios will make the short list?

... or this one (which I did enjoy ... )

https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-New-Koto-Ensemble-Tokyo/dp/B07D8J8QCR

.

[richardfinegold]

I listed to Wand/NDR yesterday. I had mentioned in #17 that Wand/Gurzenich was my first introduction to any Mozart Symphony and hearing the NDR recording brought me make to those days. Great intensity and relatively swift tempos in all but the slow movement, which provides repose with out stasis and maintains a singing line.
Wand/Gurzenich appears never to have made it to CD. I found a copy of the Nonesuch LP that paired it with the Posthorn Serenade on eBay for $4 and ordered for the sake of nostalgia

[MickyD]

If I remember correctly, in his complete cycle, Hogwood gave two versions of the symphony. But I can't remember what the differences are between the two and am not at home to look at the notes.

[Petrushka]

With clarinets and without clarinets?

How much of a difference is there and does it matter which recordings do what? I can't recall seeing it mentioned as a point made in recordings but might be wrong.

[smittims]

You're right. Vol 6 of the Hogwood set has the version withoiut clarinets and with two passages in the second movement which differ from the frequently-heard version with clarinets (and with the flute and oboe parts rearraged to accommodate them. This version is in vol 7.

[Pulcinella]

If I remember correctly, in his complete cycle, Hogwood gave two versions of the symphony. But I can't remember what the differences are between the two and am not at home to look at the notes.

The timings/track listings (from discogs) suggest something slightly different in the second movement.

Disc 15:
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
5 Molto allegro 07:00
6 Andante 14:08
7 Menuetto & Trio, Allegretto 05:22
8 Allegro assai 09:07

Disc 19:
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
8 Molto allegro 06:58
9 Andante 14:21
10 Menuetto & Trio, Allegretto 05:19
11 Allegro assai 09:03

[teamsaint]

A reminder that I have this set. Listening to the no 40 reminded me of how much I don't really care for it as a Mozart symphony. Maybe it's the G minor but I cannot warm to it. I much like the Tarmo Peltokoski CD released a few months ago by DG but find myself skipping no 40. My loss. I’m sure that it makes me a bad person.

If you were already a bad person, it wouldn’t make any difference. Though of course you aren’t.
Anyway , it is full of lovely bird song , what’s not to like ?

As a side note, it can an an odd feeling not being keen on something that is enormously popular, You know, like the Tchaikovsky VC…

( in fact several very popular VCs, but I won’t go on……)

[silvestrione]

It's odd, isn't it: for many years I just couldn't 'get' the Jupiter Symphony, and even now I admire, am in awe of it, but don't love it. The G minor on the other hand: the first time I heard that opening, I was won over...
(I hear no birdsong, and do think it a tragic work, as with all Mozart's G minor works. Though if pressed on 'tragic', I'd have to write an essay)

[teamsaint]

It's odd, isn't it: for many years I just couldn't 'get' the Jupiter Symphony, and even now I admire, am in awe of it, but don't love it. The G minor on the other hand: the first time I heard that opening, I was won over...
(I hear no birdsong, and do think it a tragic work, as with all Mozart's G minor works. Though if pressed on 'tragic', I'd have to write an essay)

I think that a lot of people feel about some of the late Beethoven quartets as you do about the Jupiter.
Honestly , I hear a lot of Birdsong. I just always see him , in my mind’s eye, sitting near an open window. I think that Ardcap of this forum heard it too, IIRC. That little
Anyway, I have surprisingly few recordings, and almost nothing at all recent, so I may listen in, esp as it is international break weekend…..

[MickyD]

You're right. Vol 6 of the Hogwood set has the version withoiut clarinets and with two passages in the second movement which differ from the frequently-heard version with clarinets (and with the flute and oboe parts rearraged to accommodate them. This version is in vol 7.

Thank you for those clarifications, I was sure I wasn't imagining it. Once I'm home again I'll give them a listen. I still love this pioneering cycle.

[akiralx]

In actual fact, Bernstein recorded the Mozart 25, 29 and 35 - 41 plus the Clarinet Concerto with the VPO for DG.

I believe the Symphony 29 was recorded live in Frankfurt, as the first half of a concert which included his famous recording of Mahler 5.

[oliver sudden]

It's odd, isn't it: for many years I just couldn't 'get' the Jupiter Symphony, and even now I admire, am in awe of it, but don't love it. The G minor on the other hand: the first time I heard that opening, I was won over...
(I hear no birdsong, and do think it a tragic work, as with all Mozart's G minor works. Though if pressed on 'tragic', I'd have to write an essay)

I’ve never _loved_ 41 either, certainly not in comparison with 40, which grabbed me from the start—it was one of the first scores I owned. (I probably first encountered it in Hooked on Classics, although the first few seconds doesn’t really count as the piece.) Not 39 either, especially not with the introduction at half speed or under, as it almost always is. (I don’t really get on with the usual tempo of the Andante of 40, while I’m on the soapbox.) I’ve always felt I should like the Prague more than I do.

To be completely honest, if all Mozart had written was the symphonies I wouldn’t be inclined to rate him all that highly. Thank goodness for the piano concertos and the Da Ponte operas.

[richardfinegold]

I also was instantly seduced by the opening measures of this work and fail to understand how anyone can resist its appeal, but we are all different