# mozart 46 symphonies



## paige philips

Hi-a couple of days ago, i asked about the complete Bruckner symphonies by Paternostro, and got some useful replies-so, the same company (i think) has a collection called Mozart 46 Symphonies, by Arigoni (?), at a crazily low price. I am pretty sure i am going to get it, but -anybody know anythign about it? i'm just concerned that the sound might not be too good, at that price. Performance doesn't matter too much , but it seems a lot of these really low-cost CDs have poor sound. Anybody heard this? thanks! Paige.


----------



## joen_cph

The conductor is Allessandro Arigoni and the label is *Membran* or *TIM *. There is a review on MusicWeb as regards this issue also:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/aug07/Mozart_Membran203300.htm

It gets an all-rightish review and it is thus probably preferrable to the Brilliant label low budget Mozart series.

As regards the later symphonies 35-41 it is probably a good idea to supplement a bit, though - say with Bruno Walter, or Karajan EMI, for instance.

*Membran* or *TIM* (they seem to be closely associated) are interesting in some respects, usually specializing in super-budget box-sets.
Among the mentionable ones there is 
a Glenn Gould set of early recordings, including Beethoven and Neue Wiener Schule, 
Beethoven´s Piano Music+Sonatas with Schnabel (10 CD; poor sound though), 
an interesting Chopin 10CD set with historical performances by the early Rubinstein, Cortot, Moritz Rosenthal, Gilels and many others; 
a Clara Haskil 10CD set, including many of the non-philips issues; 
two Michelangeli sets of 10 CD each, 
a Barbirolli 10 CD set (early recordings)
as far as I remember a Böhm and a Furtwängler set also, etc.

Their 10CD-sets portraying composers (Strauss, Mahler etc.) usually combine a few interesting historical recordings and some less succesful new recordings, often taken from the rather unpredictable Danish Classico-label. I think Membran/TIM have issued the recent Classico recording of the Beethoven 32 Sonatas played by Anne Øland as well, but it is less recommendable IMO, the "Appassionata" for instance being poor.


----------



## paige philips

joen-Thank you-I read the the review & it's pretty good, so I'm going to go ahead & order it. Very good price for all the symphonies!


----------



## Delicious Manager

paige philips said:


> joen-Thank you-I read the the review & it's pretty good, so I'm going to go ahead & order it. Very good price for all the symphonies!


I'm afraid you don't get ALL the known, authenticated Mozart symphonies. There are currently (until more get discovered or re-attributed) 57 in the complete canon. I have listed them here in known chronological order:

Symphony No 1 K 16
Symphony No 4 K 19
Symphony in F major K 19a
Symphony No 5 K 22
Symphony in D major K 32
Symphony in G major K 45a (two versions)
Symphony No 6 K 43
Symphony No 7 K 45
Symphony No 8 K 48
Symphony No 9 K 73
Symphony in F major K 76 ('No 43')
Symphony in B flat K 45b ('No 55')
Symphony in D major K 81 ('No 44')
Symphony in D major K 97 ('No 47')
Symphony in D major K 95 ('No 45')
Symphony No 11 K 84
Symphony in D major K 111a
Symphony No 10 K 74
Symphony in B flat K Anh 216 (C11.03)('No 54')
Symphony in F major K 75 ('No 42')
Symphony in D major K 74a
Symphony No 12 K 110
Symphony in D major K 120 ('No 48')
Symphony in C major K 96/111b ('No 46')
Symphony No 13 K 112
Symphony No 14 K 114
Symphony No 15 K 124
Symphony No 16 K 128
Symphony No 17 K 129
Symphony No 18 K 130
Symphony No 19 K 132
Symphony in D major K 167a
Symphony No 20 K 133
Symphony No 21 K 134
Symphony in D major K 135
Symphony in D major K 161/163 ('No 50')
Symphony No 26 K 184
Symphony No 27 K 199
Symphony No 22 K 162
Symphony No 23 K 181
Symphony No 24 K 182
Symphony No 25 K 183
Symphony No 29 K 201
Symphony No 30 K 202
Symphony No 28 K 200
Symphony in D major K 121/196 ('No 51')
Symphony No 31 K 297 (Paris)
Symphony in C major K 208 ('No 52')
Symphony No 32 K 318
Symphony No 33 K 319
Symphony No 34 K 338
Symphony No 35 K 385 (Haffner)
Symphony No 36 K 425 (Linz)
Symphony No 38 K 504 (Prague)
Symphony No 39 K 543
Symphony No 40 K 550
Symphony No 41 K 551 (Jupiter)

As far as I know, there is no absolutely 'complete' set.


----------



## paige philips

Thanks-I am a total, absolute Mozartian, but i had no idea there were so many symphonies. The man's creativity is unbelievable.


----------



## Kieran

Hi paige,

I'm nuts about Mozart too! I neglect almost everyone else to listen to him, and my latest thrill is Cosi Fan Tutte, a great recording conducted by karl Bohm.

I have Karl Bohm's "complete" symphonies - though as Delicious Manager says, there's no real complete set - and one disappointment is the opening movement of the Jupiter is performed at a hectic pace. On some recordings it's about 12 minutes long: Bohm squeezes it into less than eight! It sounds odd to me, a little rushed.

Going off-topic a slight bit (still Mozartian) do you know any great recordings of Idomeneo?

Cheers!:tiphat:


----------



## Delicious Manager

Kieran said:


> one disappointment is the opening movement of the Jupiter is performed at a hectic pace. On some recordings it's about 12 minutes long: Bohm squeezes it into less than eight! It sounds odd to me, a little rushed.


Maybe Böhm doesn't observe the exposition repeat (while the 12-minute ones do)? The first movement SHOULD be pretty fast (it is marked _Allegro vivace_, after all).


----------



## Kieran

Delicious Manager said:


> Maybe Böhm doesn't observe the exposition repeat (while the 12-minute ones do)? The first movement SHOULD be pretty fast (it is marked _Allegro vivace_, after all).


Hi Delicious Manager,

Now, you could be right with this - but I wouldn't know! Here's Bohm (8'08"):






Here's Jeffrey Tate conducting, but in two parts (6'23" & 4'53")











Both sound to be at the same speed, but Tate's is 4 minutes longer. Is it suggested in the score that a conductor can leave out pieces?

Thanks! :tiphat:


----------



## Delicious Manager

I was right. No exposition repeat in the Böhm. In the Tate performance, you will notice that at 3:13 the music from the beginning of the symphony is repeated. In the days before recorded music and radio, this was the only way a composer could offer the audience an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the music (especially if they were hearing it for the first time). Most conductors up to around the 1970s decided that the exposition repeat (and often other repeats in other movements too) wasn't necessary. Böhm was of this generation and many of his symphony recordings omit repeats.

However, leaving-out repeats often skews the balance and structure of the music, as the composer was expecting it to be there and wrote the rest of the music to balance it.

I have always bullied conductors to include repeats!


----------



## Kieran

Crikey, you're right! I'm listening to the disc now at home, and he's not only fairly brisk, but he skipped the repeat of the beginning. It takes away from it, as if he couldn't be bothered. But surely this repetition is part of the build up, it adds to the tension of the movement? I mean, it's just over now and I feel like it's been butchered. I always keep a Leonard Bernstein version tucked into this box-set because Bernstein's takes longer.

What a majestic opening movement - and it's been sliced n diced!


----------



## Conor71

paige philips said:


> joen-Thank you-I read the the review & it's pretty good, so I'm going to go ahead & order it. Very good price for all the symphonies!












This set looks like an excellent bargain - I thought maybe it may be a historical recording at that price but its not!, you will have to let us know what you think of it when you have listened some .


----------



## paige philips

Yes I will-it's supposed to be on the way-hope it doesn't get lost in the "cyber Monday" rush!I plan to start with # 1 and go all the way through. I'll keep you posted. Paige


----------

