# Mozart's Symphony No. 35, "Haffner"



## Hazel

Does anyone know of a CD with Mozaart's entire Symphony No. 35, 'Haffner" on it? I have a CD with the first movement but I want it in its entirety. 

Thank you.


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## Manxfeeder

That's strange. I think most CDs have the whole thing. I like what Barry Wordsworth does with it on Naxos for the price.


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## HerlockSholmes

Is this a joke?

http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Sympho...1GQB/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1316869127&sr=8-9
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Simpho...D7DG/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1316869127&sr=8-7
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Sympho...XE7E/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1316869241&sr=8-5
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Sympho...W8/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1316869291&sr=8-12
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Sympho...4U/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1316869324&sr=8-16
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Sympho...TBPI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316869401&sr=8-2


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## Hazel

Manxfeeder said:


> That's strange. I think most CDs have the whole thing. I like what Barry Wordsworth does with it on Naxos for the price.


Thanks. I'll ask for Naxos.

To explain having just one movement, this CD has movements of a number of his compositions as examples of his works. That explains that?


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## Manxfeeder

Hazel said:


> To explain having just one movement, this CD has movements of a number of his compositions as examples of his works. That explains that?


Ah, they're trying to get a hook in your jaws to lure you into Mozartiana! Well, if it works, you'll be in the company of some very big fish.


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## Vesteralen

BTW, Mozart also wrote a "Haffner" Serenade. One sort of picks up where the other one leaves off.

My oar in - if you're new to Mozart, you can't do better than George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra - Mozart Symphony 39. No name, just a number.


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## Mal

Vesteralen said:


> If you're new to Mozart, you can't do better than George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra - Mozart Symphony 39. No name, just a number.


I've just listened to Szell's Haffner, with the Cleveland Orchestra, and was totally blown away. I didn't think I liked this symphony much, but it's just other versions I didn't like! There's a CD with 39 and 40 on board as well.


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## Pugg

Lots of good recordings out there .


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## Mal

Vesteralen said:


> If you're new to Mozart, you can't do better than George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra - Mozart Symphony 39. No name, just a number.


I've just listened to Szell's Haffner, with the Cleveland Orchestra, and was totally blown away. I didn't think I liked this symphony much, but it's just other versions I didn't like! There's a CD with 39 and 40 on board as well.


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## jegreenwood

Mal said:


> I've just listened to Szell's Haffner, with the Cleveland Orchestra, and was totally blown away. I didn't think I liked this symphony much, but it's just other versions I didn't like! There's a CD with 39 and 40 on board as well.


There are a handful of recordings that I can identify a true markers during my early exposure to classical music. A Columbia Records LP twofer of Szell's recordings of Mozart symphonies #35, 39, 40 and 41 is one of them. I just discovered that they have been remastered in Japan, so I am ordering them again (together with the SACDs of his Beethoven cycle).


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## Mal

Hazel said:


> Thanks. I'll ask for Naxos.


Careful. "Third Ear" doesn't give Wordsworth a very good review, so I avoided it.

Szell provides a breathtaking account, probably the best out there. But Walter gives you an incomparable sense of humanity, and is not to be missed for any reason. I've heard Bohm provides a "stately" account, and Iona Brown/Academy SMinF is fighting for top spot, so I'll probably try those next.

This is music that is difficult to get right, it's taken me some time to find versions acceptable to me. (Pinnock, Marriner, and Klemperer bit the dust...)


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## FDR

HerlockSholmes said:


> http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Sympho...1GQB/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1316869127&sr=8-9


That's the one I'd recommend.


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## Mal

Szell's version is available with several different couplings, which might help if you want to avoid duplication. It would be worth streaming all these recommendation over the next few months, and then deciding (or not! You could just keep streaming and forget about CDs & never have to make a final decision )

Just buying a CD on the recommendation of a forum member (or a Penguin critic!) is a good way to build up a large collection of CDs that you don't like very much.


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## Mal

Vesteralen said:


> BTW, Mozart also wrote a "Haffner" Serenade. One sort of picks up where the other one leaves off.


The well respected Brown/ASMF recording has both on one disk, but the serenade is not "top drawer" Mozart, and having works with similar material might make it seem a bit of a repetitive experience! (And the serenade does go on for a long time, it was written as background music for the wedding of the daughter of Haffner by a youthful Mozart, he reworked the material as the symphony when he was more mature. So, yeah, Szell,... or Bohm, or Walter, or... maybe Wordsworth... maybe another version by Marriner...


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## jegreenwood

Mal said:


> Szell's version is available with several different couplings, which might help if you want to avoid duplication. It would be worth streaming all these recommendation over the next few months, and then deciding (or not! You could just keep streaming and forget about CDs & never have to make a final decision )
> 
> Just buying a CD on the recommendation of a forum member (or a Penguin critic!) is a good way to build up a large collection of CDs that you don't like very much.


Just a comment - the DSD remastering of the Haffner on a disc that includes Symphonies 28 and 33 and is part of the Sony Great Performances series (confusing title used by Sony several times) sounds better than prior releases to my ears. I can't tell if the 2014 Japanese set uses the same master, which I received yesterday - if not the difference is minor. However the Japanese set includes Symphonies 39-41.


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## realdealblues

I'm with Pugg. There's lots of great recordings out there. 

Szell and Marriner immediately come to mind for this one.


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