# SS 25.07.15 - Mozart #31 "Paris"



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening! 
*
*For your listening pleasure this weekend:

*Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)*

Symphony #31 in D major "Paris", K. 297/300a

1. Allegro assai
2. Andantino or Andante
3. Allegro

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I always enjoy a weekend with Mr. Mozart. I have lots of recordings of this one, I think I'll go with:

View attachment 72815


Otto Klemperer/Philharmonia Orchestra


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I'll go 'HIP' this weekend with Gardiner.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Neville Marriner/Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields for me - it's the only set I have!


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## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

I love making these twofers and with Mozart, you really have to try hard to go wrong!















I'll go with Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert and Karl Bohm with the Berlin Philharmonic.


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## Lord Lance (Nov 4, 2013)

*Davis comin' a knockin'*

I am not sure if many people even bother listening to this or if it is recommended, but this is my set this weekend:









Lightness of texture, Davis' Mozart mastery [or at least as close as one gets to one except for Karajan] and joyous playing. Winning combo.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Streaming Jaapter Linden and the Mozart Akademie Amsterdam. Period instruments.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Sticking with my standby, Mackerras with the Prague Chamber Orchestra.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Christopher Hogwood and the AAM


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

*Mozart*: Symphony 31 "Paris", w. ASMF/Marriner (rec.1990).


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I shall start with this version but hope to have the time to try another version or two of this weeks choice


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

I missed last weeks Saturday Symphony through work sadly but I'll make for with today's instead. I've had a few shifts of having to be up at 4am and now, on my first day off, I have still woken at 4am and simply cannot switch off. The jolt when you think you have overlaid before realising you haven't can be too effective at times.

Onto the choice of recording, since I am awake so early and I'm rather fond of Mozart's 'Paris Symphony', I'll be listening to a pair of recordings:
- Otto Klemperer & the Philharmonia
- Sir Thomas Beecham & the London Philharmonic

I love Klemperer's Mozart a great deal, his performances are full of spirit - his recording of the 31st Symphony is no exception. The balance and sound of the Philharmonia is masterful, playing to the strengths of a modern Orchestra without overpowering the score. The recording quality is exceptional.

Beecham's Mozart is equally wonderful and his passion for the Composer shines brilliantly in this recording with what was his London Philharmonic. The sound quality as fairly good but the performance is superb.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Harrumph...










English Chamber Orchestra u. Jeffrey Tate (EMI)

Remember buying this disc at a thrift shop for $1, picked it mostly because Jeff Tate look's like his tie is choking him.. Not a bad performance either!

/ptr


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## leroy (Nov 23, 2014)

ptr said:


> Remember buying this disc at a thrift shop for $1, picked it mostly because Jeff Tate look's like his tie is choking him.. Not a bad performance either!/ptr


Thats pretty funny, and how about that jacket too lol.

I'm listening to this one:









Very nice performance.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

So where do people think this falls in the pantheon of Mozart Symphonies? I prefer #34 more, not to mention the last 6. The Paris shows less interesting theme development and modulation. Was this a product of Mozart's own development--i.e., he hadn't hit his Symphonic Stride--or was he deliberately dumbing down for contemporary Parisian audiences that were more into surface glitter and less into the complexities of Austro/German Symphonic thought?


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

Going with Bohm/Berlin, Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists, and if I have time Pinnock/The English Concert.


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

And I had a chance to listen to all 3, which I enjoyed, however the HIP experience proved better to my ears than the classic Bohm. Thanks for another great SS!


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

I'll go with this set. Maybe Bohm/Berliner too


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

Post duplicated. Sorry


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

I am going with:

Conductor - Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Wiener Philharmoniker
Musikvereinssaal Wien, 1984


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Aside from the very late ones, Mozart's symphonies remain relatively unfamiliar territory for me.

I'll be checking out Abbado.









So which second movement do you guys prefer?


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Mackerras & SCO


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

Skilmarilion said:


> Aside from the very late ones, Mozart's symphonies remain relatively unfamiliar territory for me.
> 
> I'll be checking out Abbado.
> 
> ...


The Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists recording also had both versions of the 2nd movement. I'd listen to both but my preference is the later one we normally associate with the symphony.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

This one for me, on Spotify. As for Skilmarilion this is terra incognita.

I actually preferred the G minor symphony K.183 on this disc, but I enjoyed K.297 well enough. Nice performance and recording.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Triplets said:


> So where do people think this falls in the pantheon of Mozart Symphonies? I prefer #34 more, not to mention the last 6. The Paris shows less interesting theme development and modulation. Was this a product of Mozart's own development--i.e., he hadn't hit his Symphonic Stride--or was he deliberately dumbing down for contemporary Parisian audiences that were more into surface glitter and less into the complexities of Austro/German Symphonic thought?


It's usually considered his first 'late' or mature symphony as it's more advanced in technique than the previous Salzburg symphonies. It's written for a much larger orchestra than the earlier ones, it's structurally tighter and the transitions are much more seamless. I'm not sure what you mean by less modulation, it's pretty audible to me in the development of the first movement, from the dominant key to the F major pizzicato section, then briefly to A minor before back to the main theme, then a brief series of modulations in the transitional passage with the opening ascending scale that leads to the second theme. I definitely wouldn't say he dumbed the content down either given the two fugato sections of the finale- the first being very brief, and the second much larger fugato in the development that goes through the strings and woodwind instruments.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Had this disc for years and have always thought it seemed a rather dry, technically good performance.
I realise now that part if this is the use of a smaller orchestra than was the norm in the eighties rather than say the Karajan set with the full BPO. I suppose it was the beginning of HIP Before it was hip!


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## Tedski (Jul 8, 2015)

ptr said:


> Harrumph...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


He reminds me of Stephen King.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

trazom said:


> It's usually considered his first 'late' or mature symphony as it's more advanced in technique than the previous Salzburg symphonies. It's written for a much larger orchestra than the earlier ones, it's structurally tighter and the transitions are much more seamless. I'm not sure what you mean by less modulation, it's pretty audible to me in the development of the first movement, from the dominant key to the F major pizzicato section, then briefly to A minor before back to the main theme, then a brief series of modulations in the transitional passage with the opening ascending scale that leads to the second theme. I definitely wouldn't say he dumbed the content down either given the two fugato sections of the finale- the first being very brief, and the second much larger fugato in the development that goes through the strings and woodwind instruments.


There is some modulation, to my ears less than we hear in the late Piano Concertos or the last 6 Symphonies, or perhaps the modulations in those works are more striking and memorable than in the Paris Symphony. I didn't realize that it was his first Symphony after leaving Salzburg, so I guess it winds up being a transitional piece, a bridge to the last great works.


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## PeterF (Apr 17, 2014)

I have 3 versions of this symphony. Will pull out the one by Mackerras and the SCO for a listen.


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## PeterF (Apr 17, 2014)

Just finished listening to No.31 and now decided to also play Symphony No.29 also by Mackerras and SCO.
No.29 is playing as I write this.
I really like both of them. Would be difficult to pick one over the other.


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