George Szell, The Cleveland Orchestra Mozart* – Symphonies Nos. 39 & 40 Exsultate, Jubilate

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin continues its PENTATONE Mozart series with the composer’s 29th and 33rd symphonies. These works are coupled with his ravishingly beautiful Clarinet Concerto, performed by Ernst Schlader in the original edition for basset clarinet. Schlader, a specialist in historical instruments, has written an essay on the basset clarinet for the album booklet that includes a rare historical image showing the original shape of the instrument used in the years after the concerto’s premiere. The first release of this series was longlisted for the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

This is an excellent Mahler Ninth. It does not feature the tortured anguish of Bernstein (Sony & DG), the elegant pain of Giulini (DG), or the stately gloom of Walter (Sony), but, like Libor Pesek (Virgin Classics), it successfully straddles more than a few fences. But "straddling fences" does not imply it's middle-of-the-road–it is, in fact, more middle-of-the-night. Dohnányi often makes inner voices turn disruptive, yet coaxes the strings to sound both sweet and eerie in their heavy use of portamento; and he is scrupulous in extracting just about every last meaningful detail in this monumental work.

Above the album worked the 'Iván Fischer & Budapest Festival Orchestra - Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 3 & 4 and Other Works (Digital Box Edition) ', and his release took place on 2021. The album has got songs with a total duration of more than an hour. A compilation is a compilation of original music.