The Mozart Thread
Posted by: Tam on 22 February 2006
To quote Tom Lehrer "It's a sobering thought that by the time Mozart was my age he'd been dead for three years." I know how he felt, though I not yet quite old enough to have outlived him, I did nearly choke on whatever it was I was drinking when I listened to the first symphony (K16) for the first time whilst reading in the booklet that he was but 8 years old when he wrote it.
Anyway, given it's the anniversary year, and we don't seem to have had a huge amount of Mozart (well, apart for Ian's thread), I thought I might try and alter that by mentioning some of my favourite works and interpreters.
We'll start with the concerti. I have a soft spot for the horn concerti which were, I think, the first mozart concerti that I ever owned. I should admit that I came to them via the the Flanders and Swan song which uses the finale from the K495. I have two recordings, the Koster/Tafelmusik/Weil reading and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and I think my preference is probably for the latter. I'm also rather fond of the clarinet concerto, though I only have the Orpheus's recording and wonder whether there are better out there.
Of course, no mention of the Mozart concerti would be complete without turning to the piano, particularly when I'm writing the thread, as I find the piano somehow the most satisfying instrument in a concerto. That said, my relationship with Mozart's didn't get off to a terribly good start. Following the penguin guide, I decided that I couldn't go wrong by buying Perahia's cycle (their rosettes having never steered me wrong in the past). That said, my only previous encounter with Perahia had been dreadful Edinburgh festival concert with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields where he proved (for me) why you shouldn't use a piano in a brandenburg concerto and that if, as a conductor, you're going to sing along with the music, you could at least do it in tune. But I digress. It's not that the Perahia cycle is bad, more I think that I had terribly high hopes for it and, as a result, it proved to be something of letdown and just left me a little unmoved much of the time. That said, I'm currently engaged in surveying all my Mozart piano concerti to decide which are going on my ipod (upon which space is fast becoming a premium) and his 4th and 5th have made it, so he isn't all bad. On of my favourites, though, technically not by Mozart, like all the first four, is the 2nd concerto (K39) from which I find the middle movement painfully beautiful, and Barenboim's reading with ECO particularly fine. Indeed, I would commend the whole of Barenboim's cycle, and indeed his latter, and much more refined (which has both its pros and cons) with the BPO, both of which can be had for an absolute song. Indeed, the Berlin cycle also has a rather wonderful bonus DVD with the concerti for two and 3 pianos with Solti and Schiff. Mozart's first really great piano concerto is probably the 9th (the Jeunehomme), which was recently featured on radio 3s building a library. There is rather fine mono account (though I don't know if it's available separately) with Kempff/Munchinger and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Of more recent accounts Barenboim's with the BPO is rather fine, though I'm keenly awaiting the arrival of the Brendel/Mackerras/SCO version which I have on order. This latter team has so far done four discs, and I think, sadly, no more are planned, and I was much impressed when I saw the concert that followed the recording of their last effort (numbers 12 and 17). So far, however, I have only got their 20 and 24, both of which are very fine indeed. I have, somewhat deliberately, missed out a great many fine concerti, this is mainly because I want to steer clear of talking about the ones that I don't know so well, hopefully others will fill in.
I used to think that once you got below about about 25, the symphonies were rather a pale shadow of the later ones (indeed, there was recently a thread along those lines over on the radio 3 boards). Then, a few years ago, I picked up the Mackerras, Prague Chamber Orchestra complete cycle (on Telarc, most of which is, I think, available as individual discs too). - Incidentally, like most of my classical threads, with the exception of my Ring cycle and Mahler ones, this one is probably going to be a little heavy on Mackerras - Anyway, the vitality with which they play the early works is really quite something, indeed, the first few discs are among the most recommendable in the entire cycle, and now some of my favourite listening. That's not to detract from the later symphonies, which he plays very well too, but just that they lack something of the magic he brings to the youngest ones. I'm not going to mention all the fine symphonies, that would take too long and I will leave my glaring omissions to others to fill in (though I do feel a little bad skipping over 34-36). Instead, the only other ones I shall mention are two of my favourites, and the first two Mozart symphonies I ever owned: 40 and 41, the latter being one of my favourite symphonies of all time. There are doubtless many fine recordings of these two (including the rather nice Erich Kleiber/LPO 40th that I'm listening to as I write this) but I haven't heard anything, at least in the Jupiter, that touches Bernstein's account with the VPO.
A number of times and on a number of threads, Uchida's survey of Mozart's piano work has been mentioned and, to be honest, I don't think there is much to add to what has already been written. This is superb playing and should really be on every self-respecting Mozartian's shelf. I'll only point out my favourite moment, which comes in the Turkish March finale of the K331 sonata which features some of the most beautiful piano playing anywhere on disc and would almost certainly make it with me to my desert island. That said, the Solomon readings of the 331 and 576 (which couple with his unsurpassed Beethoven 5th concerto on Testament) are not bad.
Lastly I'll turn to opera. I'm about to enjoy Mackerras's (there I go again
) new release of La Clemenza di Tito, which was recorded just prior to a rather fine concert performance at the Edinburgh festival last summer and marks the latest instalment of his SCO cycle which has now jumped labels for the second time (by my count: it started on Telarc, went to EMI for Idomeneo, and this new issue comes from DG with Magdelena Kozena and Rainer Trost). That said, Clemenza is hardly Mozart's finest opera, even in the hands of Sir Charles. Le Nozze di Figaro on the other hand arguable is. Indeed it is one of my favourite operas and I have three recordings (none of which, you will doubtless be pleased to read is by Mackerras....yet). Part of the reason for my soft spot for Figaro stems from the fact that the Giulini/Philharmonia recording with Taddei and Schwarzkopf was the first opera I owned and I still prefer this recording above all other that I've heard. That said, purists may well object because in order to get it onto two discs Marcellina and Basilio's arias from act 4 have been lost. However, for my money that helps solve a problem in Figaro which is that most of the best music is in the first half, and the pace can sag accordingly. The only complete reading I have is Boehm with the likes of Prey, Mathis and Fischer-Dieskau, which in fact, only gets better as the opera progresses (after something of a shaky, and, to my ears, poorly recorded start). Still, it doesn't quite do it for me in the way Giulini does. The other account I have, which I can thoroughly recommend is Gui's mid 50s Glyndebourne account (which I believe is the favourite of Gramophone's good CD guide). I only purchased it because it's two sans libretto discs (cut in the same manner as Giulini) were on sale for just £6 in HMV the other day, and it would have been rude to pass them up (even when not on sale I think it only goes for around a ten pounds). This is a very fine account too, and though sound is a little 'early stereo' it is remarkably good for its time. If you're new to Figaro and/or on a budget (or even if you're not) it's well worth picking up. At this point I should probably leave a little space so that Graham can demand to know why I haven't yet tried Erich Kleiber's account - it's on my list! The only other operas I'll mention are Don Giovanni, which I have in the form of Giulini's very fine account, though I wonder whether it's a opera that really needs to be seen as well as heard, since it doesn't quite seem to capture the wit and sparkle of the Opera North production I saw last year. Lastly, there is the Magic Flute, I only have one recording, and it comes from Charles Mackerras (who else) and the LPO and is the only account in English and is very fine indeed.
I have doubtless missed many great works and interpreters off this list and, there was a certain degree of intent in that direction, the hope being that others will want to fill in the awful gaps my shameless Mackerras bias may have left. So, the floor is open!
regards, Tam
Anyway, given it's the anniversary year, and we don't seem to have had a huge amount of Mozart (well, apart for Ian's thread), I thought I might try and alter that by mentioning some of my favourite works and interpreters.
We'll start with the concerti. I have a soft spot for the horn concerti which were, I think, the first mozart concerti that I ever owned. I should admit that I came to them via the the Flanders and Swan song which uses the finale from the K495. I have two recordings, the Koster/Tafelmusik/Weil reading and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and I think my preference is probably for the latter. I'm also rather fond of the clarinet concerto, though I only have the Orpheus's recording and wonder whether there are better out there.
Of course, no mention of the Mozart concerti would be complete without turning to the piano, particularly when I'm writing the thread, as I find the piano somehow the most satisfying instrument in a concerto. That said, my relationship with Mozart's didn't get off to a terribly good start. Following the penguin guide, I decided that I couldn't go wrong by buying Perahia's cycle (their rosettes having never steered me wrong in the past). That said, my only previous encounter with Perahia had been dreadful Edinburgh festival concert with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields where he proved (for me) why you shouldn't use a piano in a brandenburg concerto and that if, as a conductor, you're going to sing along with the music, you could at least do it in tune. But I digress. It's not that the Perahia cycle is bad, more I think that I had terribly high hopes for it and, as a result, it proved to be something of letdown and just left me a little unmoved much of the time. That said, I'm currently engaged in surveying all my Mozart piano concerti to decide which are going on my ipod (upon which space is fast becoming a premium) and his 4th and 5th have made it, so he isn't all bad. On of my favourites, though, technically not by Mozart, like all the first four, is the 2nd concerto (K39) from which I find the middle movement painfully beautiful, and Barenboim's reading with ECO particularly fine. Indeed, I would commend the whole of Barenboim's cycle, and indeed his latter, and much more refined (which has both its pros and cons) with the BPO, both of which can be had for an absolute song. Indeed, the Berlin cycle also has a rather wonderful bonus DVD with the concerti for two and 3 pianos with Solti and Schiff. Mozart's first really great piano concerto is probably the 9th (the Jeunehomme), which was recently featured on radio 3s building a library. There is rather fine mono account (though I don't know if it's available separately) with Kempff/Munchinger and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Of more recent accounts Barenboim's with the BPO is rather fine, though I'm keenly awaiting the arrival of the Brendel/Mackerras/SCO version which I have on order. This latter team has so far done four discs, and I think, sadly, no more are planned, and I was much impressed when I saw the concert that followed the recording of their last effort (numbers 12 and 17). So far, however, I have only got their 20 and 24, both of which are very fine indeed. I have, somewhat deliberately, missed out a great many fine concerti, this is mainly because I want to steer clear of talking about the ones that I don't know so well, hopefully others will fill in.
I used to think that once you got below about about 25, the symphonies were rather a pale shadow of the later ones (indeed, there was recently a thread along those lines over on the radio 3 boards). Then, a few years ago, I picked up the Mackerras, Prague Chamber Orchestra complete cycle (on Telarc, most of which is, I think, available as individual discs too). - Incidentally, like most of my classical threads, with the exception of my Ring cycle and Mahler ones, this one is probably going to be a little heavy on Mackerras - Anyway, the vitality with which they play the early works is really quite something, indeed, the first few discs are among the most recommendable in the entire cycle, and now some of my favourite listening. That's not to detract from the later symphonies, which he plays very well too, but just that they lack something of the magic he brings to the youngest ones. I'm not going to mention all the fine symphonies, that would take too long and I will leave my glaring omissions to others to fill in (though I do feel a little bad skipping over 34-36). Instead, the only other ones I shall mention are two of my favourites, and the first two Mozart symphonies I ever owned: 40 and 41, the latter being one of my favourite symphonies of all time. There are doubtless many fine recordings of these two (including the rather nice Erich Kleiber/LPO 40th that I'm listening to as I write this) but I haven't heard anything, at least in the Jupiter, that touches Bernstein's account with the VPO.
A number of times and on a number of threads, Uchida's survey of Mozart's piano work has been mentioned and, to be honest, I don't think there is much to add to what has already been written. This is superb playing and should really be on every self-respecting Mozartian's shelf. I'll only point out my favourite moment, which comes in the Turkish March finale of the K331 sonata which features some of the most beautiful piano playing anywhere on disc and would almost certainly make it with me to my desert island. That said, the Solomon readings of the 331 and 576 (which couple with his unsurpassed Beethoven 5th concerto on Testament) are not bad.
Lastly I'll turn to opera. I'm about to enjoy Mackerras's (there I go again
) new release of La Clemenza di Tito, which was recorded just prior to a rather fine concert performance at the Edinburgh festival last summer and marks the latest instalment of his SCO cycle which has now jumped labels for the second time (by my count: it started on Telarc, went to EMI for Idomeneo, and this new issue comes from DG with Magdelena Kozena and Rainer Trost). That said, Clemenza is hardly Mozart's finest opera, even in the hands of Sir Charles. Le Nozze di Figaro on the other hand arguable is. Indeed it is one of my favourite operas and I have three recordings (none of which, you will doubtless be pleased to read is by Mackerras....yet). Part of the reason for my soft spot for Figaro stems from the fact that the Giulini/Philharmonia recording with Taddei and Schwarzkopf was the first opera I owned and I still prefer this recording above all other that I've heard. That said, purists may well object because in order to get it onto two discs Marcellina and Basilio's arias from act 4 have been lost. However, for my money that helps solve a problem in Figaro which is that most of the best music is in the first half, and the pace can sag accordingly. The only complete reading I have is Boehm with the likes of Prey, Mathis and Fischer-Dieskau, which in fact, only gets better as the opera progresses (after something of a shaky, and, to my ears, poorly recorded start). Still, it doesn't quite do it for me in the way Giulini does. The other account I have, which I can thoroughly recommend is Gui's mid 50s Glyndebourne account (which I believe is the favourite of Gramophone's good CD guide). I only purchased it because it's two sans libretto discs (cut in the same manner as Giulini) were on sale for just £6 in HMV the other day, and it would have been rude to pass them up (even when not on sale I think it only goes for around a ten pounds). This is a very fine account too, and though sound is a little 'early stereo' it is remarkably good for its time. If you're new to Figaro and/or on a budget (or even if you're not) it's well worth picking up. At this point I should probably leave a little space so that Graham can demand to know why I haven't yet tried Erich Kleiber's account - it's on my list! The only other operas I'll mention are Don Giovanni, which I have in the form of Giulini's very fine account, though I wonder whether it's a opera that really needs to be seen as well as heard, since it doesn't quite seem to capture the wit and sparkle of the Opera North production I saw last year. Lastly, there is the Magic Flute, I only have one recording, and it comes from Charles Mackerras (who else) and the LPO and is the only account in English and is very fine indeed.I have doubtless missed many great works and interpreters off this list and, there was a certain degree of intent in that direction, the hope being that others will want to fill in the awful gaps my shameless Mackerras bias may have left. So, the floor is open!
regards, Tam
I thought I'd bump this thread back to the top to talk about Idomeneo (particularly as Graham savaged it somewhat a few pages back).
Given part of yesterday was spent in the company of the Magic Flute, it's interesting to note the contrasts in the two works (for a start the latter was originally in German as opposed to the Italian of Idomeneo), but contrasts in musical style are hardly a surprise given Flute is a very late work about 300 after Idomeneo in the KV numbers.
The first thing that strikes me about the work is just how slow it is (I'm speaking strictly in terms of tempi here, it did not seem to drag) - this is all the more of a surprise given Mackerras is at the helm and he is not one to hang around (the more so in recent years, and in his other SCO Mozart operas). The orchestral playing is excellent (but this team always are), however what strikes me more in this set than his other Mozart operas (perhaps because the orchestral writing is less fine, and there can be little question that it is) is the quality and beauty of the singing, particularly from the ladies (Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Lisa Milne and Barbara). As I mentioned in my Opera in English thread, I was not following on the libretto (I was listening on my Ipod so it was not practicable), and perhaps this is why the voices were more a focus than than what they were singing. There's also some John Relyea and Paul Charles Clarke (although this stuck out less). Perhaps one of the attractions of this set, for some, is Bostridge in the title role. I have never hugely cared for him as a singer (and he behaved quite badly last summer in the way he pulled out of both the recording and concert performance of Clemenza). However, he does not in anyway get in the way here (possibly because the things about him that bug me the most are visual (which, clearly, on CD are not an issue).
Also of note, I don't find the recitatives stick out in the way they do in Clemenza (presumably because Mozart didn't write them for that work). Another interesting point is that Mackerras gives a very full text (unlike in Clemenza where he cut the recitatives quite heavily) and the only place to get more, I believe, is Gardiner who gives various alternate versions of things. Mackerras explains in his note that this is so the user can then programme their CD player for the 'cut' of the work that they favour. However, no guidance is given as to what cuts are frequently made, or what programming options might be particularly fine.
However, I didn't feel the need to have cut anything. There are many interest things in this work aside from what I have mentioned, included the relatively muted introduction of the second act (with nothing like the fire one typically expects). He also gives us the Ballet that follows the finale of act III. Clearly it would have been included at the time, I wonder though if it is commonplace in performance today (it is certainly rather fine, and in places gives the SCO more of a chance to show off than elsewhere in the work).
I expect, if done badly, this work could drag terribly in the theatre (but the same could be said of many works). This CD performance, like all other Mackerras/Mozart operas I have heard, is very enjoyable and well worth a listen.
regards, Tam
I hadn't planned to get this disc. That's not to say I wasn't intrigued by the prospect (and I have been wanting a German recording of the work, my only one being the Mackerras opera in English effort). However, given I am seeing the production (albeit with different singers) this summer at the festival I decided to wait and see. This strategy was reinforced by the various exerts I had heard on CD Review and the Gramophone's cover disc which singularly failed to grab me. However, I was given a copy and the choice was taken from me.
For me the principle attraction of this set (almost more than Abbado's presence) is the wonderful Mahler chamber orchestra. Most of the singers, with the exception of Rene Pape, are of a younger generation, and I was not personally familiar with the names (though I do not know singers as well as I do conductors so that doesn't necessarily mean too much)
From what I had heard, I came to it with somewhat lowered expectations (though I was aware of its rave reviews, of which more later). Well, the set started off promisingly enough, with a fairly lively overture. The Gramophone talks about this being of the faster school of Mozart, though Abbado is not at Mackerras like tempi, as evidenced by the fact he doesn't manage one act per CD. However, as the overture ends and the opera begins the problems start to emerge. The voices are utterly unremarkable. What is worse, neither voices nor orchestra are served by the awful recording. Now, I know this is the second post today where I have complained about recording quality, but I really think that in 2006 it shouldn't be an issue and certainly not in the way is here. The sound is thin and harsh and neither instruments nor voices sound right. Indeed, up there with the LSO Live Shostakovich 5 I am tempted to suggest that in purely technical terms this is one of the worst recordings I own - what bugs me is even, say on the Giulini/Verdi Requiem discussed on the other thread, the sound may be mono and constricted in the odd place but instruments and voices sound absolutely natural (as do Solomon's Beethoven concertos if one goes back a decade further). This sound is the kind of sound that leads me to wonder if my hi-fi might be broken (but it's fine with other discs) or my CDs faulty (but I go to the DG website where samples can be heard at high bitrates and they also suffer). So this is a bad recording, and in this day and age it shouldn't be (fascinatingly the same label did Mackerras proud with another Mozart opera, Clemeza, last summer).
The recording balance does the oddest things: the various instruments (the flute, bells and pipes) are variously far too prominent or too indistinct. But it is the harshness that does for me, not simply on the instruments but on the voices. Of course, on a great recording one shouldn't mind a recording even this bad, so the fact it has so probably suggests that the recording didn't do it for. Which would be a fair assessment. Most of the time it doesn't catch fire - the tempi (especially for the first half-hour or so) are too broad. Now, broad is fine, but not if one doesn't bring drama and too often Abbado doesn't. Actually, when the performance does catch fire (as starts to happen towards the end of act I and more often in act II) I stop noticing the drawback of the recording.
Abbado gives a pretty full text (fuller than Mackerras). Now, some will like this, and were this a DVD I could see the attraction, on CD though I firmly believe that less is more. That said, especially in the act two scenes between Papageno an Papagena, this dialogue is wonderfully acted, elsewhere however is dull and drags horribly. Which leads me on to my greatest complaint against the singing - there is no drama here. These singers are, almost to the man, merely singing, they are not acting, I do not feel the characterisation as one should in the best opera singing. The way Simon Keenlyside infuses the character of Papageno is sound to hear (his 'pa pa pas' are extraordinary), and this doesn't come close (ditto Lesley Garrett's Papagena). Rene Pape is fine, but even he doesn't quite seem there. The only one who really does is the Monostatos of Kurt Azesberger, who for me is the vocal star of this disc.
Of course, lack of acting wouldn't matter so much if the voices were wonderfully beautiful. They are not. The Tamino of Christoph Strehl seems fine enough until he gets towards the end of a moderately long aria and has to go loud and long and then his voice just cracks up horribly. The Pamina of Dorothea Roschmann is fine, but she has a little much vibrato for my tastes. The queen of the night (Erika Miklosa) has allegedly sung this role hundreds of times in Europe and is much in demand, for the life of me I cannot see why. Her voice is horribly thin at the top - a surely critical flaw given the role's key aria. Compare to the richness of Elizabeth Vidal for Mackerras and it is no contest. The only other vocalists to mention, and here I must heap praise, are the Arnold Schoenberg Choir, and they sing wonderfully.
I wonder, of course, how much the harshness of this recording is hurting my opinion of the voices. It is hard to say. The closing moments of the opera give me a clue though, as to why this recording is so bad: the rapturous applause (the distasteful audience doesn't quite allow the final chords to die away). Now, there are plenty of great live recordings, however, up until this moment I was not sure this was live (it doesn't say so in the book) which makes me wonder whether DG haven't tried to be clever and expunge any traces of noise and in doing so ruined the sound - it seems to me the most convincing explanation.
The Mahler chamber orchestra play wonderfully throughout, the fault, orchestrally, lies with the choices of the conductor. I suspect were it not for the sound I would like this more, but the way in which it is bad colours everything. If this had not be a gift, I would be getting rid of it.
One final note, I mentioned reviews. I don't always agree with reviews but from the best reviewers it is always interesting and I understand their point even when I do not share it. It was doubly distressing therefore to note that the gushing review in the Gramophone came from Alan Blyth (whom I normally rate terribly highly). However when he describes Tamino as "well nigh faultless" or the Queen of the Night "shows just why in a technically secure and firey account of her two arias" and then goes on to say "the recording is reasonably well balanced" I despair and wonder if we can possibly have been listening to the same thing. It isn't simply me - two other people to whom I've played bits of the disc have shared my views.
I wouldn't say don't buy this disc under any circumstances, I would suggest that you go and listen first, I would suggest you also listen to Mackerras, for me it is simply no contest and I find myself wondering whether to try and trade my ticket in for the concert performance of Mastersingers....
regards, Tam