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Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 39 & 41

The English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Musically, the performances are first rate, with the slow introduction to Symphony No. 39 sounding grander and more solemn than it does in Charles Mackerras's widely-admired version with the...

Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 39 & 41

The English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner

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This release includes a digital booklet

Stream now lossless, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit
Musically, the performances are first rate, with the slow introduction to Symphony No. 39 sounding grander and more solemn than it does in Charles Mackerras's widely-admired version with the...

About

SDG is proud to release its first Mozart CD, recorded live at Cadogan Hall.

This album made the headlines in 2006 as the UK’s first classical “on the night” recording. CDs were made during the second part of the concert for the audience to take home after the concert. This is the first time this CD is commercially released.

Symphonies 39 & 49 are among the last composed by Mozart. They use the full eighteenth-century orchestra, complete with trumpets and timpani.

Symphony 39 (K543) shows Mozart at his most exalted in the orchestral passages, while some passages remain intimate and touching, with more delicate themes. The Minuet features the orchestra’s guest artists, the clarinets, in a waltz-like Trio.

The “Jupiter”, Mozart’s final symphony (no 41, K551), belongs to a sequence of grand ceremonial works in C major.

Typically for Mozart it juxtaposes a number of different contrasting musical characters and ideas, from the formal and aristocratic to the heartfelt and soulful.

In the finale, the composer’s compositional virtuosity is on display. Through the whole runs an extraordinary spirit, a mixture of intellectual excitement, the feeling of a grand design, and a sense of fun.

Contents and tracklist

I. Adagio - Allegro
Track length10:34
II. Andante con moto
Track length8:26
III. Menuetto. Allegretto
Track length4:05
IV. Finale. Allegro
Track length8:00
I. Allegro vivace
Track length12:06
II. Andante cantabile
Track length10:31
III. Menuetto. Allegretto
Track length4:27
IV. Molto Allegro
Track length8:31

Awards and reviews

July 2011

Musically, the performances are first rate, with the slow introduction to Symphony No. 39 sounding grander and more solemn than it does in Charles Mackerras's widely-admired version with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the Finale (done with both repeats) generating a tremendous sense of energy.

May 2011

Unlike so many 'live' recordings, this one captures the essence of pure music-making and re-creative energy. Period instruments and historical information are means to glorious ends here...[Gardiner] and his musicians take risks within the context of clearly reasoned interpretations, defying hidebound convention to explore the music's essential truth.

4th March 2011

These are lively, slightly hard-driven performances
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