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

Mozart composed some fifty symphonies, if we include works he adapted from opera overtures or serenades by adding movements or taking them away. The first dates from 1764-5, at the time of his childhood visit to London, and most are early works, quite short. Many are associated with his boyhood travels (his first trip to Italy in 1769-71, for instance) but his most prolific period as a symphonist was between 1771 and 1774 when, in Salzburg, he wrote no fewer than seventeen.

The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, with Gordan Nikolic, puts down a spicy performance of two of Mozart's bubbliest symphonies: the "Haffner" and the "Linz". "Both symphonies swoop and swerve at sprightly tempos where needed, which is different from being just fast. They virtually tremble with life. The engineers have succeeded admirably with a transparent soundstage." (Fanfare)

Maxim Emelyanychev and Il Pomo d’Oro continue their uncommon Mozart symphony cycle. The idea is the following: put together great symphonies of the late Mozart and youth pieces. Maxim Emelyanychev, who has already gathered the first and the last symphonies – the beginning and the end –, has chosen to record the symphony no. 29 and the legendary no. 40 in the present volume. The ensemble makes us follow Mozart, from Salzburg to Vienna, in the yearning for liberty his life was. Perfectly suited to this repertoire, Maxim Emelyanychev uses the exceptional and period-instrumented sonority of Il Pomo d’Oro to deliver a dramatic and powerful Symphony no. 40, while rendering all the lyricism and contrasts of the no. 29. The Oboe concerto, interpreted by the soloist Ivan Podyomov, first oboe at the Royal Concertbouw Orchestra, adds a concertante supplement to this programme.

For her fifth live recording of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's piano concertos with the Cleveland Orchestra, Mitsuko Uchida presents the Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K 453, and the Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K 503, a delightful pairing that reflects her previous albums in this critically acclaimed series on Decca.