Bal 8.02.20/13.6.20 - Mozart: Symphony no. 39 in E flat K.543

[Felix the Gnat]

Like most forumistas, I have more M39s than you can shake a stick at, so I'm unlikely to be adding to my collection.

My current favourite (and has been for quite some time) is Freiburger Barockorchester, René Jacobs.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I heard this first on record with Beecham and the RPO and it is still a favourite.

Right at the top of my list. Good sound too, apart from some strange balance in the development section of the finale.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

(Actually, WF's recording with the VPO of the 40th would certainly make me pause in being so quick to put that work at "equal third".)

There are two VPO/WF recordings of no. 40. The earlier (live) performance is a little slower than the famous 1948/49 studio recording, but omits the first movement repeat.

[DoctorT]

Listening to Mackerras/SCO. Wonderful playing

[pastoralguy]

Talking of wonderful playing, my introduction to this work was hearing the finale played by James Last in one of his easy listening arrangements. Now it's hardly going to be a BaL choice but the playing was pretty terrific. In fact, another arrangement was of the second movement of Schumann's Second Symphony where Last's fiddles distinguished themselves!

[richardfinegold]

Like most forumistas, I have more M39s than you can shake a stick at, so I'm unlikely to be adding to my collection.

My current favourite (and has been for quite some time) is Freiburger Barockorchester, René Jacobs.

I have those as mp3; way to fast for me

[cloughie]

Very much my favourite Mozart Symphony - I like a variety of interpretations including Kertesz, Britten, Tate, Norrington, Kubelik, Pinnock, Colin Davis.

[rauschwerk]

This was the first Mozart symphony I got to know really well, with the aid of an off-air tape and a Penguin score for three and a tanner (£4 in today's money).

Really interested to read Tony's comments above regarding the Adagio introduction. It wasn't until I bought the PCO/Mackerras set and read William Malloch's commentary that I realised how logical it is to take the descending 32nd note scales in the intro at more or less the same speed as the 16th note scales in the Allegro.

One of my favourite moments is the way Mozart leads us into the recapitulation. A tutti half-close in the relative minor (C minor), a bar's silence, three quiet bars on the woodwind and then the main theme reappears. In no time at all those woodwind bars get us into the right key and a the same time wind down the considerable energy of the music. Simple, personal, and beautiful.

One mystery is the articulation of the Allegro's main theme - E flat G B flat on the violins, immediately echoed on the horns. There is a slur connecting the first two notes which is not obvious in performances I have heard except Pinnock's. He makes the G short and light, clearly detaching it from the B flat. I suppose this is strictly correct but it always sounds affected to me. Any comments from anyone who has played or conducted this piece?

[Keraulophone]

I like a variety of interpretations including ... Colin Davis.

Colin Davis/LSO Philips Universo mid-price LP (original release 1962) c/w No.40 - my first, and it still sounds satisfying (though the grooves are rather worn).

[Goon525]

Am I alone in preferring these symphonies without second half repeats of sonata form movements? I like the SCO/Mackerras performances of the last three very much...but they do go on a bit.

[Felix the Gnat]

Am I alone in preferring these symphonies without second half repeats of sonata form movements? I like the SCO/Mackerras performances of the last three very much...but they do go on a bit.

They don't in Jacobs' hands!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Am I alone in preferring these symphonies without second half repeats of sonata form movements?

Probably not - but I have a very different opinion

[Petrushka]

Am I alone in preferring these symphonies without second half repeats of sonata form movements? I like the SCO/Mackerras performances of the last three very much...but they do go on a bit.

They don't in Abbado/Orchestra Mozart hands either! I find the repeats in the SCO/Mackerras to literal whereas Abbado has subtle variations in those second time round repeats. Don't know what he does or how he does it but it makes all the difference.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Am I alone in preferring these symphonies without second half repeats of sonata form movements? I like the SCO/Mackerras performances of the last three very much...but they do go on a bit.

You are not alone. I think that when you get to the end, it's the best time to stop. An ugly abrupt gear change to the middle of the work never seems to me to be a great idea at all, whatever the reason:-
"The composer wrote it, so it should be played",
"The composer needed to full a time slot, so played the same bit again",
"They did it in old minuets, so logically they should do the same in symphonic movements",
"Maybe the audience wasn't listening properly the first time around",
"It's such great music that it deserves to be played again".

Personally, I think first half (exposition) repeats are often better omitted. Beethoven dropped them in his later works, and they became increasingly less common in the 19th century, with Brahms and Dvorak expressing a preference for not playing repeats they'd actually written themselves.

But then, I'm a heretic.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

You've missed out "Because the Music sounds better with the repeats".