# Favorite Mozart Symphonies



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

As of now:

25, Haffner, 39, 40 and Jupiter.


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## Common Listener (Apr 6, 2019)

Like yours, but I'd definitely add No. 29 and could keep going, mostly counting backwards from 38 and 36.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The only ones that have some interest for me are 39, 40, 41. The rest that I've got on CD (29,32,33,35,36,38) don't do much for me - I'd rather listen to any of the 100+ Haydn symphonies. Then again, the romantic era (and later) is where my real interest for symphonies lies.


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

in order:
40
39
41
38
29
35
36


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## Andrew Kenneth (Feb 17, 2018)

I like his first symphony. It's 2nd movement caught my interest. 
(This movement contains a motif that will later resurface in the finale of the 41st symphony.)


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Nos 40 and 41 are my favorites and essentially equal to any symphonies from other composers. No. 38 is not far behind. Other favorites are 39, 35,25, and 29. 

I also have a fondness for No. 6 in F, K43.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Andrew Kenneth said:


> I like his first symphony. It's 2nd movement caught my interest.
> (This movement contains a motif that will later resurface in the finale of the 41st symphony.)


Those early ones are not to be forgotten. I have a question, why are some of Mozart's early symphonies labeled as #50 and such, above 41? Is it when they were found?

Also, what are some good cycles of his symphonies?

I wasn't loving the Pinnock.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I'm enjoying Mackerras very much. His 38 is powerful!


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Favorites: 29, 35, 38, 41

FYI: Kubelik's old 38 with the CSO is really good.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

No. 40 towers above the rest for me, especially as performed by Klemperer. I don't like the slow movement as much as the ones from the two symphonies surrounding it, but the minuet is unlike anything else he wrote, and the finale with the "12-tone row" is breathtaking. Otherwise it's 41, 39, 29, 31, 38 in that order. However, no symphony from the Classical Period is the equal of my favorites from the Romantic and 20th century. It's all music that delights me, but rarely astonishes me.


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Those early ones are not to be forgotten. I have a question, why are some of Mozart's early symphonies labeled as #50 and such, above 41? Is it when they were found?
> 
> Also, what are some good cycles of his symphonies?
> 
> I wasn't loving the Pinnock.


You mean the Jupiter symphony with Pinnock and The english concert did nothing for you? I remember hearing it on the radio for the first time and never forgot it.


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## DBLee (Jan 8, 2018)

Right now I'll say 40, 41, 25, 29, 38, and 31, in that order. But I very much enjoy most of his symphonies.


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## Joachim Raff (Jan 31, 2020)

My favourite is No.38 "Prague"


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

The "Haffner" (35) and the "Linz" (36) have always been my favorites, two gems amidst an oeuvre of great music. I do recognize the "Jupiter" (41) as heads-and-shoulders above most other symphonies, a real masterpiece, and it ranks 3rd on my Mozart symphonies "favorites" list.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Joachim Raff said:


> My favourite is No.38 "Prague"


Likewise, and largely for its stunning first movement, the most complex and expansive symphonic movement I know of before Beethoven's "Eroica."


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Bigbang said:


> You mean the Jupiter symphony with Pinnock and The english concert did nothing for you? I remember hearing it on the radio for the first time and never forgot it.


I haven't heard the entire set, and 41 is one I haven't heard yet. I'll take a listen and report back.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

23rd is memorable, it was one of first pieces of Mozart I heard long ago.














The earliest symphony I find noteworthy is the 16th, the canonic devices of the slow movement. But in all honesty, his secular orchestral works below mid-200 K numbers (c. 1764~1775) don't particularly grab my interest. I think the symphonies at the time were essentially "divertimentos" with fewer movements -they served as tafelmusik for the archbishop and also as the early medium for experimentation with the sonata form by the young Mozart. In some ways, I consider them to be like Mendelssohn's string symphonies. It wasn't until late J. Haydn/Mozart, composers started to really consider their secular orchestral works as important as their liturgical vocal works. (I mean, if Mozart finished the requiem at the same pace as he did the Linz symphony, it wouldn't have been left unfinished.) I also consider Beethoven's Eroica symphony to be a major turning point in this regard.

I can listen to Mozart's early missae breves and offertories (K49, K65, K85, K90, K125, K140, K167, K192, K193, K194, K195...) endlessly, but not his early symphonies. I would be happy to trade his 20 early symphonies for 10~20 more missae breves. I've also listened to catholic music by his predecessors and colleagues at the Salzburg cathedral, such as Johann Ernst Eberlin, Anton Cajetan Adlgasser, Michael Haydn, and his own father Leopold Mozart. Even compared to them, I can say Mozart has a distinct unique voice in the vocal music. The manifestation of chromaticism is interesting each time as well. 
2m34s
5m10s

In missa longa K262 for example, the way he creates contrast and tension and then relieves them is masterful. At 10:48, there is this serene, lyrical section "Et incarnatus est", but at 11:41, the C minor "Crucifixus" hits like a thunderbolt, and then in going from the dominant to a new key in G major, 12:38 "Et resurrexit" (with somewhat "neo-Handelian" characteristics of effect) counteracts and relieves the tension. The use of strettos in "Et vitam venturi" 18:00 is just masterful as well.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Those early ones are not to be forgotten. I have a question, why are some of Mozart's early symphonies labeled as #50 and such, above 41? Is it when they were found?


"There are also several "unnumbered" symphonies from this time period. Many of them were given numbers past 41 (but not in chronological order) in an older collection of Mozart's works (Mozart-Werke, 1877-1910, referred to as "GA"), but newer collections refer to them only by their entries in the Köchel catalogue. Many of these cannot be definitively established as having been written by Mozart"


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

38, 39...tho I love the last 6 symphonies...25 & 34 are really good, also....
I love the interior mvts of #41...really special...


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

There are quite a few (and also several that I don't warm to so much) but among the more mature ones I listen to 31, 35, 38, 40 and 41 the most.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Szell's 35 was where I "got" Mozart. I also love 25, 36, 40 and 41.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I am going with others from 35 -41 with 40 as no 1 .


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

25, 31 ("Paris"), 41 ("Jupiter")


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Overall, my favorites are, in order, nos. 41, 40, 38, 39, 29, 35, 31, 36 and 34. From his early symphonies my favorites are nos. 1, 8, 11 (even if perhaps it isn't by Mozart) and 12, not necessarily in this order.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Woodduck said:


> Likewise, and largely for its stunning first movement, the most complex and expansive symphonic movement I know of before Beethoven's "Eroica."


I'll second you on that.


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## Marc (Jun 15, 2007)

I love quite a bunch of them, but I have a very weak spot for KV 338 (C Major, no. 34). I call it 'the little Jupiter'.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

I kinda go with the last 6 as my default setting, with the last 4 being - for me - his pinnacle, and the Jupiter being my favourite of them all, for its confident sweep and scope, that gorgeous slow movement and of course, the brain-swelling final movement. But I'm partial to them all, especially love the slow movement in K16, the little genius already laying out his toys to play with...


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

For me, the Finest are the Fabulous Final Four--38, 39, 40, 41. Woodduck's remarks on the first movement of the _Prague_ are spot-on. Blew my mind when I first heard it.


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## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

SONNET CLV said:


> The "Haffner" (35) and the "Linz" (36) have always been my favorites, two gems amidst an oeuvre of great music. I do recognize the "Jupiter" (41) as heads-and-shoulders above most other symphonies, a real masterpiece, and it ranks 3rd on my Mozart symphonies "favorites" list.
> 
> Me too, exactly! I love the recordings of these by Michael Gielen and the SWR Sinfonieorchester.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

For some reason, I listen to 36, 40, and 41 all the time but hardly ever to 38 and 39. Not sure why, but my mind just wanders off when I try to get into them. They are beautifully constructed but just don't get me excited like 36, 40, 41, or Haydn's Paris/Channel/London Symphonies.


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## ProudSquire (Nov 30, 2011)

I like No.39 a lot and probably enjoy listening to it the most, especially the first movement, which I find original and refreshing. 38, 40 & 41 I always enjoy, but try not to listen to them too much!  Nos. 25, 29, 33,36 I find, are always exciting to listen.


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