Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jeffrey Tate, English Chamber Orchestra :: Mozart: 51 Symphonies [Box Set]

One of the best

W. Hill | 12/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tate's set of complete Mozart symphonies is truly most pleasing, and, certainly, one of the best available. It may seem like it's an expensive set, but remember that you are getting 12 CDs for the price...a very good value. The quality of recording is excellent, and so is the performance and interpretation. There are also other very good sets. Pinnock's (and I have to disagree with the previous reviewer) is an excellent set for those who are into authentic performance. Having heard several complete sets of Mozart symphonies on modern instruments, Tate's is one of my most favorite ones. Buy it and enjoy."

A set for completists in stylish, convincing performances

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Great music deserves to be an event whenever it is performed, but obviously that can't be the case when a single conductor sets out to record all of Mozart's 41 official symphonies plus relatted fragments and unfinished scores. Complete sets, whoever does them, don't tend to include great performances; one judges them on their average level of artistry. By that measure Jeffrey Tate comes out well. He is an enthusiastic, alert Mozartean who tries hard not to fall into routine, even when the music is less than first-rate.



If you are a completist and can find this 12-CD set for a good price, it's a fine choice, probably better overall than Marriner and the ASMF, whose readings are on the same scale and adhere to the same middle-of-the-road appraoch. In neither set do we get extreme tempos or screechy violins playing without vibrato. These are polished, cultivated readings.



Having said that, there are a number of Mozart symphonies where one wants a great performance, including #25, 29-31, 33-36, and 38-41, each climbing steadily higher on the scale of masterpieces. In these dozen symphonies I would not judge Tate's readings to be at the top of the heap (the same goes for other complete sets by Bohm, Levine, Mackerras, and Marriner that I have sampled). So even if you buy his whole cycle, you are likely to overlap quite a few works in search of greater inspiration. I long ago decided to pick and choose among great recordings, so my Mozart shelf includes Abbado, Bruno Walter, Klemperer, Bernstein, and Karajan, along with selected, lesser readings of early symphonies that major conductors usually don't touch."

One of the best integral sets

D. DEGEORGE | Ellicott City, MD USA | 01/04/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This review is very long, but we're talking about 12 discs here! If you don't feel like reading the details below, let me sum up by saying that I agree with most of the praise in the other reviews here of this set, but I especially commend your attention to the review that advises acquiring other recordings of the major late symphonies of Mozart. If this set continues to be available at a reasonable price, grab a copy before the person with the last copy decides to become a scalper.



Wow, the performances of the early symphonies are so stylish and musical! I never expected to hear any more wonderful recordings of the first twenty symphonies than those by Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields; but I think Tate's have a slight edge because of their great clarity and sizzle. Tempi tend to be a little faster than Marriner's but not frenetic like MacKerras's.



I especially like the way these performances clarify every line, both of theme and accompaniment. They eschew the ultimate in beautiful sound by using only a small amount of vibrato but go nowhere near the extremes of "original-instrument" interpretations.



Not all is wonderful, however. In particular I am put off by the style of oboe playing in many of the symphonies, especially in No. 38, where twice it completely undermines the power of the first movement. I'll elaborate on oboe tone as a footnote at the end of this review.



On the other hand, give the hard-working French hornist a medal! Throughout the nineteen-year span during which these recordings were made, there were no doubt many changes of personnel; so I'm probably not talking about just one or two hornists; but throughout, whoever they are, they give wonderful color; and there's only one minor blooper, in one of the later symphonies, that got through the editing process.



The last of Mozart's symphonies were the first recorded, and feature the worst playing. Although I don't recall the ECO's being anything but expert in 1984, they are not at their best in *these* 1984 recordings. Through the years, working back toward Mozart's earlier symphonies, the ECO seems steadily to improve; and the touch of historically informed performance practice that entered their later recordings added clarity, zest, and interest. So if you don't want to hear a generally declining level of performance, listen to the set in reverse order.



The order in which the symphonies are placed on the discs is not strictly chronological or numerical, although the earlier symphonies appear mostly in order, including the various overtures and symphonies not included in the original 41. For the later symphonies no particular order prevails, EMI not having bothered to remaster and re-sequence the discs that originally came out individually. Incidentally, the original numbering of Mozart's symphonies from 1 to 41 included three symphonies not really by Mozart (#2, 3, & #37), so these are not included. On the other hand, the set includes 13 sinfonias or "overtures" that are indistinguishable in form from early symphonies; some are actual overtures to early operas, others not. Not all of them carry numbers, but those that do are assigned numbers in the 40s and 50s.



The recorded sound is uniformly excellent.



Following are observations on some specific symphonies:



#1. Virile, but not stomped out like Leinsdorf. No attempt to race. I'm guessing that it is more as the Mozarts intended it, as I suppose under the guidance of his father, Mozart would have been making a serious effort. The program annotator for this collection makes the valid point that Mozart wasn't trying to write anything profound in these symphonies, the prevailing attitude of his time being that symphonies were of little worth compared with opera and other vocal works. Still, Mozart seemed to ooze quality even in his most casual compositions (especially later on; the early works are in fact somewhat hit or miss). Even though to our ears accustomed to the mature Mozart, this symphony cannot help but sound relatively trivial, it has a grace and charm that suggest Mozart wasn't just playing around and that interpreters should take it seriously. The best competition this recording has, as far as I am concerned, is the Marriner Mozart: The Early Symphonies (31). Marriner and his Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields are so smooth, expert, and no-nonsense, that they can sometimes sound glib; but that is not the case here, nor with Tate. The two performances each have their respective merits, and both are a pleasure to hear.



#21. It's hard to imagine a more wonderful performance than this--one of the highlights of the entire set. There's nothing dramatic--no extreme tempi, accents, or forced joviality--just wonderfully sensitive (but subtle and non-indulgent) music making. Mozart is allowed simply to speak as his eloquent self, conveying marvelous wistfulness that's barely detectable behind its elegant, happy façade. This symphony, like some others written in 1772, marks either the end of Mozart's boy-wonder-composer years or the beginning of his mature genius. It's not quite major Mozart, but is all the more charming as a half-hidden treasure on the cusp of greatness.



#22. Last movement more staccato and faster than I am used to. To my ears it doesn't give the music its due. Although it borders on frenetic, it's more a matter of being played with such speedy nonchalance as to trivialize the music. The second movement is played more expressively but also just a little fast. Finally, however, the speedy romp through the last movement really works! It (almost) prevents the repeated horn-call theme (tonic-third-fifth-tonic) from sounding trite.



#23. The syncopation (classical-type, nothing jazzy) in a comparatively slow section near the beginning of the first movement, though not calling attention to itself in any way, served its purpose of keeping the rhythm airborne after the dizzying beginning of the movement. The strings are dazzling in their high-speed chases. The slow movement, with the aforementioned oboe solo, is played with special sensitivity.



"#52." A performance of great vitality. The last movement is played so fast as to be dismissive; excitement is gained, music is lost. Unfailingly interesting, though.



#25 Tate gets through the first movement rather quickly and with vigor, virtuosity, and conviction. The oboe here (not named) has an up-to-date Western sound, at least most of the time.



#26 We are allowed to savor the delicious melody of the last minute with a moderate tempo. An almost double-dotting of the rhythm keeps it lively, though; and a crescendo at the end adds drama.



#27. The first movement is a real joyride; the second, quite lovely.



In symphonies #28, 30, 35, 39 the trumpet plays too loudly when in a subsidiary accompaniment role. I don't believe that it is the engineering because the trumpet is just about as it should be when in a starring role, brilliant but not excessively loud.



#28. A nicely spirited performance. The finale is dazzling, but somewhat metronomic and sing-song-y.



#29.There is a recording by Klemperer Mozart: Symphonies Nos 29, 35 (Haffner), 38 (Prague), 39, 40, and 41 (Jupiter) (a conductor whom I usually don't like because, as one critic said, "He conducted with a wet noodle," which manages to let the music breathe even more than Tate and yet still not drag. In the first movement Tate takes the middle road in tempo; and he is respectful of the tenderness of the lyrical main theme; however, strong accents make other portions of the movement rather too perky for my taste, even though the approach is interesting and not unmusical. In the second movement, a "breath" would have been nice at the introduction of the second theme--a missed expressive opportunity. The last movement again is accented and slightly double-dotted, a joyous romp. I enjoyed the prominence of the French horn. All in all, an excellent, but not amazing, performance.



#31, "Paris." First movement: Surprisingly deliberate tempo; I guess Tate thought this music particularly worthy of lingering over. The brass cut through with assertive piquancy. The second movement benefits from a loving pace, and it may have been a desire to keep the first movement in proportion to the second that encouraged Tate's slower tempo in the former. There's no escaping the appeal of fleetness in the last movement, though. Again, the possibility of speeding through it seems to have been inhibited a bit by the other movements. It's fast enough, but barely. The fiddlers fly in the coda, however. A track immediately following the symphony provides an alternative Andante.



As I review the last eight symphonies, I compare five of them to my longtime-favorite Cleveland/Szell recordings Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 28, 33, 35, 39, 40 & 41.



#33. This is a gentler approach than the Szell; I think probably more Mozartean in its spirit. It's a tossup, with the Szell having the advantage of more energy & precision.



#34. Very nice! It's the equal of a favorite recording of mine by George Szell and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (available from Amazon sellers as part of a very interesting anthology of Szell recordings on Philips and Decca spanning the years 1951 to 1969 and therefore including some monophonic recordings--kind of a mixed bag but, luckily, not prohibitively priced). The Tate has the advantage of clearer sound due both to the inherently greater articulation of a chamber orchestra and also to more modern recording. The Tate set also has the bonus of an optional Minuet & Trio, placed as a fourth track, after the finale.



#35. The first two movements are rather deliberate in tempo. The last movement goes along at a conventional pace, and the precision and accents are good. In total, however, this is only an average performance. There are lots of better performances of this symphony, including Szell's.



#36. The first movement could have used snappier precision in the violins. There is nice work by the woodwinds (in spite of occasionally iffy tone from the oboe and bassoon) and brass, with plenty of energy. In this symphony the role of the trumpet is to provide brilliance as it combines with other instruments. It does not really have much to add in the way of melody or counterpoint; so if it is too prominent, the accompaniment becomes overbearing and tedious. There are times during this performance when that happens, but the always-evident presence of the trumpet does add enough sparkle to make it more of an asset than a liability. Preferable in some ways is an old (but stereo) Philips recording by Krips and the Concertgebouw Josef Krips / Concertgeboew Orchestra Amsterdam / Mozart Symphonies 21 31 35 36 (2 CDs). The Tate/ECO benefits from better sound, though; and its touch of historically-informed performance practice is refreshing. Although the minuet is at a proper tempo, I would have liked for it to move along more briskly; its enclosed trio is fine, with a more prominent-than-usual bassoon. Tate phrases the last movement with an invigorating sense of urgency, and the strings tighten up their ensemble as compared with the first movement. An outstanding finale, indeed.



#38 Having savored the ever-increasing genius of Mozart as he grew into maturity up to this point in his symphonic ouvre, when I finally got to the last four, I felt that I was entering the Holy of Holies of the Mozart symphonies. It is in these, composed around the time of Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, that one feels closest to his operas, which are probably his greatest achievements. The slow introduction to #38 intensified the feeling of something momentous about to happen; however, the brief oboe solos with their wimped-out vibrato kept destroyed the mood. This is, after all, the symphony with the most direct allusions to Don Giovanni; and there is no place in this movement for anything other than rock-solid virility; the build-up, the counterpoint, the driving force--for all this to be interrupted by these nasal intrusions is a shame. In every other respect this is a fine performance, but I have to direct you to Krips Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 40, 38 & 32 or Neville Marriner Mozart: Symphonies No. 38 'Prague' & 39; Neville Marriner; Academy of St. Martin in the Fields instead. (Incidentally, the Marriner provides an example of what I think is a better sounding oboe.) Tate/ECO pace the Andante beautifully, and the oboe does not seem out of place in this gentle movement. The last movement is fine, too.



#39. In a set in which clarity and precision have been extraordinary it was somewhat surprising not to hear more of those qualities in the first and last movements of this symphony. The Cleveland Orchestra/Szell recording Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 35 & 39 remains the benchmark for this symphony. This ECO recording does have a somewhat compensating advantage, however: because it is a chamber orchestra, the strings do not drown out the woodwinds. In the last movement the trumpet's prominence was mostly very festive, but still too loud when it should have been subdued. The movement ends with appropriate, neat suddenness, but not with the elegance of the Cleveland/Szell.



#40. The excitement builds! And this is indeed a strong interpretation of this remarkable symphony, with its slick surface that does little to hide the agonizing beneath. How the first movement strains and reaches for relief but ends unsatisfied! The finale buries its angst somewhat deeper below a surface that is sometimes jocular, but probably mockingly so. Tate and the ECO might have made a little more of the sense of defeat imbedded in the last couple of measures. Mozart enriched his orchestration with multiple oboes, clarinets, horns, bassoons, and flute, having added clarinets after his original version and rewriting the oboe parts to accommodate them. This rich mixture protects us from any untoward sounds from a solo oboe. The Bruno Walter stereo recording with the Columbia Symphony Bruno Walter The Edition ~ Mozart - Symphonies Nos. 39, 40 & 41 "Jupiter" is heavy competition, and that ECO/Tate approach it as closely as they do is a significant accomplishment. Walter's performance has a delicious moment halfway through the first movement, where the whole orchestra takes a split-second breath before plunging ahead. I wouldn't be without that for anything. Walter's performance brings out more pathos, less outright anguish. I'll continue to listen to both recordings for their different emphases.



#41. At last the culmination of Mozart's symphonies! And for this, even though Mozart had no reason to think it would be his last, he pulled out all the compositional stops. Richly contrapuntal in the outer movements, the whole thing ends with a majestic fugue pulling together no fewer than five themes. Curiously, given the over-prominence of the trumpet in many of these recordings, one has to strain to here them here in the first movement. They come forth gloriously in the last movement, however. Tate brings out the final drama with forceful accents. The ECO does not perform with the greatest virtuosity in the last movement, but they certainly get the spirit right, and the recorded sound is magnificent. I'm sorry to say, however, that this performance pales next to the Szell/Cleveland. I wanted the Tate/ECO to challenge the Szell because the latter does have its faults: recorded sound that is somewhat dry, artlessness and inflexibility in parts of the first movement, and a general lack of grandeur. Yet, in spite of these faults, Szell's is an absolutely spellbinding and thoroughly amazing tour de force. The sheer propulsion Szell gives the last movement provides not only excitement but unifies and demonstrates Mozart's compositional prowess more than Tate's slower version. Maybe it's impossible to have both grandeur and electric excitement at the same time. Also, when I listened again, this time with a score, I became more aware of just how sloppy the ECO's ensemble is as compared with the Cleveland Orchestra's. Another discovery was that Szell took no repeats (nor prisoners!). Tate, on the other hand, takes the first lengthy repeat back to the beginning of the last movement--a nice touch, because one doesn't want to let go of this symphony too soon. There are several other performances on disc that capture the Jovian majesty that earned this symphony its nickname, such as for example the one by Giulini and the New Philharmonia Mozart: Symphony No40; Symphony No41.



I am happy that Tate and the ECO gave these last six symphonies the weight they deserve rather than glibly tossing them off. These were the earliest recorded in this set, back in the 80s; I wonder how differently they might have interpreted them today. If only they could have given us the precision of 2003 with the interpretation of 1984!



All the performances in this set are quite good, although few are amazing. One of the disadvantages of a boxed set, if it is to be the only recording of the Mozart symphonies that you own, is that it does not provide the opportunity to pick and choose among the very best performances of each symphony. For that you have to buy the recordings of several different conductors and orchestras, incurring a fair amount of duplication in the process; so there is a valid economic incentive in making the compromises inherent in a one-conductor-one-orchestra set. And I discovered another advantage of the integrated-set packaging: it gave me the excuse for a two-day Mozart-Symphony marathon. If any readers have the time for it, I recommend it as an immensely satisfying experience, and this set is a great way to do it.



At the time of this review this Tate/ECO set is selling for about $5.50 per disc, or $1.20 per symphony. There's no question that it's worth that price. As for the many alternatives I cited above, almost all are out of print, with only one or two copies remaining on Amazon; I am afraid that by the time some of you read this review they will no longer be available.



Footnote regarding the oboes: One of the oboists is identified as Gordon Hunt, in Symphony No. 23, where he has a beautiful solo. Englishman that he is, he seems nevertheless to have adopted an old European (predominantly German) style of playing that strikes me and some other of my American music-lover friends and musicians as nasal and wimpy, although it can be charming in the right context. Mr. Hunt is one of the world's finest oboists (first oboe in the Philharmonia and London Chamber orchestras, and previously the same position in the London Philharmonic, as well as having been guest first oboe in the Berlin Philharmonic--where his style must have fit right in), and many listeners will love his work--but not I, except for languid solos, where the sound is indeed sweet. I don't know in how many of the symphonies he plays; but the oboist to whose work I object sounds a lot like him.



Another famous oboist, Neil Black plays in the overture to "Il re pastore" ("Symphony No. 52"), and I like his style better.



The reality is that there is a continuum of oboe-playing styles ranging from the robustly straightforward sound of American-trained oboists to the wobble of the German tradition to the pinched rawness of the Russians. The tone that I find so objectionable in some of these recordings lies toward the German end of the continuum, but not hugely different from what I can comfortably tolerate. It just happens to cross an invisible line that makes it obnoxious to my ears.



I admit that this is a matter of preference and that the Germanic tradition of oboe playing has very expressive,colorful, and distinctive qualities, achieved through a wider vibrato and (I would guess from the sound) a lower wind pressure. And while I do not mean to suggest that all instruments should have a generic, homogeneous sound, there is a need for blend; and the anachronistic sound of the Germanic oboe tradition really distracts me in passages of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Brahms that are otherwise characterized by masculinity and forcefulness.



For any of you interested in pursuing the differences in oboe sounds, I refer you to Hans Holliger, who is an example of a European oboist with a European sound but not so extreme as to set off my internal Germanic oboe alarm. For what I consider exemplary oboe playing, give a listen to John deLancie in the Philadelphia Orchestra's recording of the Mozart Oboe Concerto, K. 314 Mozart, Strauss, Weber: Wind Concertos (ignore the rather old-fashioned stodgy approach to Mozart that Ormandy purveys). On the same CD you can also hear Neil Black in the Strauss concerto."