# Top Shelf Jupiter Symphony Recordings



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

What does TC recommend? This is quite possibly my favorite work by Mozart from start to finish.

:tiphat:


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I just put on the Harnoncourt version, I'm enjoying it a lot. It's tender and bold as it needs to be.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I listened to Jupiter many times on many versions, that the work didn't feel fresh to me anymore from most versions. There are 3 versions that I always found fresh: Jeffrey Tate's, Benjamin Britten's and Yehudi Menuhin's. i wish Spotify was around before so that I didn't buy the other versions to find out they weren't to my liking. I also have Harnoncourt's and after a listen or two it also goes on auto in my mind.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Phil loves classical said:


> I listened to Jupiter many times on many versions, that the work didn't feel fresh to me anymore from most versions. There are 3 versions that I always found fresh: Jeffrey Tate's, Benjamin Britten's and Yehudi Menuhin's. i wish Spotify was around before so that I didn't buy the other versions to find out they weren't to my liking. I also have Harnoncourt's and after a listen or two it also goes on auto in my mind.


I'll try those, thanks. I am enjoying the Harnoncourt though, I like him a lot.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I stopped the Harnoncourt to try the Tate, and went straight back to N. Harnoncourt. :lol: It was part of a "most relaxing Mozart" album and sounded dull to my ears. I'll give the others a chance later.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Old-school Mozart for me. Szell, Walter, Bohm, Klemperer all nail it in different ways. Szell's recording was the one that got me to love Mozart's symphonies after not previously clicking with Bruggen. I personally do not like it when the finale is played at breakneck speed; I find it tends to gloss over the miraculously intricate counterpoint. And I like the Andante played like a choral hymn - slow, reverent, and opulently-phrased. My favorite HIP version is Jordi Savall's 2019 recording.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Wow, this Savall sounds great!


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

Phil loves classical said:


> I listened to Jupiter many times on many versions, that the work didn't feel fresh to me anymore from most versions. There are 3 versions that I always found fresh: Jeffrey Tate's, Benjamin Britten's and Yehudi Menuhin's. i wish Spotify was around before so that I didn't buy the other versions to find out they weren't to my liking. I also have Harnoncourt's and after a listen or two it also goes on auto in my mind.


I own many versions. Just recently, found Menuhin's version....very good sound and overall very good. Tate is also good and in the day was really impressive to listen to though I need to refresh myself...Britten I own the various symphonies before the big 5, and being a composer himself does make me wonder if he can bring out something new..never heard it. I own the harnoncourt....yes it is good and no reason to disparage it.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

I would put forth this one:


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Captainnumber36 said:


> What does TC recommend? This is quite possibly my favorite work by Mozart from start to finish.


Reiner/CSO
Walter/NYPO
Szell/Cleveland


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I'm not an expert, and some may find it hopelessly Karajanized, but for some reason Herbie did a three volume set of late Mozart for EMI in the early '70s, and I particularly like the Jupiter among them.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Olias said:


> I would put forth this one:
> 
> View attachment 131171


I would second this.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Bigbang said:


> I own many versions. Just recently, found Menuhin's version....very good sound and overall very good. Tate is also good and in the day was really impressive to listen to though I need to refresh myself...Britten I own the various symphonies before the big 5, and being a composer himself does make me wonder if he can bring out something new..never heard it. I own the harnoncourt....yes it is good and no reason to disparage it.


I find Britten the most consistently interesting interpreter. They all have great momentum, but are still very stately. His #40 is more dramatic than any (although the slow movement is too long, maybe too many repeats). His #39 is also great, but the recording is bad in that it changes twice in the first movement from close to distant to close again, a real big flaw (I have the single CD version with 41, not sure if it's fixed in the Decca box set)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Olias said:


> I would put forth this one:
> 
> View attachment 131171


This one and Bernstein .


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I'm alone in not valuing the Mackerras so highly. I find it efficient and a little driven. But there are plenty I do like, including Bruno Walter's, Beecham's, Klemperer's, Suitner's, Bernstein's (a great recording), Pinnock's and more. I also greatly like Norrington's (with the London Classical Players - I don't know his later one), the Harnoncourt (the one with Concentus Musicus that treats the last three symphonies as one big work), the Savall (also part of an attempt to treat the last three symphonies as belonging together). Which one(s) I would recommend would depend on what you have heard but there are many great performances of this great work in my partial list above.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

If you like your Mozart ‘big band’ then I would recommend Karajan with the BPO from the seventies


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Old-school Mozart for me. Szell, Walter, Bohm, Klemperer all nail it in different ways. *Szell's recording was the one that got me to love Mozart's symphonies* after not previously clicking with Bruggen. I personally do not like it when the finale is played at breakneck speed; I find it tends to gloss over the miraculously intricate counterpoint. And I like the Andante played like a choral hymn - slow, reverent, and opulently-phrased. My favorite HIP version is Jordi Savall's 2019 recording.


Ditto. Recently, I've been enjoying the mono Walter recordings. Bohm just seems too old school. I need to spend more time with Klemperer. And the recently purchased Pinnock cycle.


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## AeolianStrains (Apr 4, 2018)

My go-to is Herreweghe with Champs-Élysées, sometimes the Mackerras. I like some of the slower tempi (Walter, Klemperer, Solti), but I couldn't pick a favorite among them.


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

The best I've heard are Levine/CSO and Herzog/Ensemble Appassionato. The Bohm fugue movement is extraordinary, too.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Bohm's Mozart is an interesting case and often contrasted by Karajan's. Personally I find Karajan's recordings of the symphonies to be too sweet. Bohm's on the other hand seem stylish and elegant to me - but rarely more than that. I'll have to listen to his Jupiter - it is a long time since I last heard it.

EDIT: I have just listened to the Bohm and agree it is a fine performance. I do feel the Jupiter responds well to a very wide variety of treatments.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I think Bohm is at his best in the Jupiter, the others are a bit more mixed and occasionally too "elephantine" for me with their very strong accents and lack of flexibility. I don't think this music lies in the BPO's sweet spot. Now Klemperer...definitely stoic Germanic tempi. But for some reason, I never think of his Mozart as plodding or tedious. It's remarkably light and graceful.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ I agree about Klemperer. Who would have expected that, while being his musical self, he would still turn out to be excellent in Mozart?

Meanwhile, I have now heard the more recent Norrington Jupiter (the one from Stuttgart): it is really very very good.


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## Aurelian (Sep 9, 2011)

Berstein with the VPO in 1984 on DG is my favorite. Bernstein has been hit and miss for me, but I really like his 40 & 41 recording.


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

Aurelian said:


> Berstein with the VPO in 1984 on DG is my favorite. Bernstein has been hit and miss for me, but I really like his 40 & 41 recording.


Yes very good and grand, from Bernstein. I own it and Penguin Guide gave it a rosette. Too many good ones to pick from these days.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Walter/New York Philharmonic (mono), Klemperer/New Philharmonia and Szell/Cleveland. For me, no others need apply.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

Beecham's 1950 recording with his Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (not his final one from 1957), and, maybe even better if you are willing to put up with historical sound quality, his 1934 recording with the London Symphony, are astounding. Lithe, graceful, lyrical, witty, intelligent, in other words, everything you would expect from Mozart and Beecham at their considerable best.


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## Sad Al (Feb 27, 2020)

Of course you'd better get Jos van Immerseel or Colin Davis in Stupiter Symphoney, you silly!


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Oh yes, I forgot about Colin Davis with the Dresden. That one is a pure delight. It’s available on one of those “Denon Essentials” compilations that doesn’t credit the conductor on the front cover.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

just listened to the Szell 1955

seems to be as good as there is - love the temp - white hot energy in the outer movements - all the voices are there, vigorous rythms etc.

would not waste time with karajan


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