Mozart; Serenade No. 10 "gran Partita" Schubert; 6 German Dances Orchestrated by Anton Webern

The HAYDN2032 edition celebrates the release of the tenth volume in the complete recording of Haydn’s 107 symphonies. Entitled ‘The Times of Day’, this programme is devoted to Symphonies nos. 6, 7 and 8, whose individual names translate as ‘Morning’, ‘Noon’ and ‘Evening’. Prince Paul Anton Esterházy, who commissioned the work, is said to have wanted to show his guests that his orchestra was of excellent quality and that ‘his’ Haydn was highly inventive. Giovanni Antonini’s orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, once again rises to the challenge! This triptych following the sun’s course is prolonged into the night by the work of another composer: Mozart’s Serenade in D major, nicknamed Serenata notturna, probably written for a masked ball at Salzburg Town Hall in February 1776. Jérôme Sessini of the Magnum agency, who has won awards for his work on the cartel wars in Mexico and the opioid crisis in the United States, took the photographs featured in this volume.

Pollini is so much a part of the contemporary music scene that it's amazing to realize that the earliest material on this disc (Stravinsky and Prokofiev) dates to the 1940s. These two performances retain their power to startle and amaze, both through Pollini's seemingly effortless virtuosity and through the immediacy of his musical conceptions. This Prokofiev is a close rival even to Richter's. Webern, from six years later, is so colorful and well organized that it makes the difficult music almost easy to listen to. Not many listeners will put up with Boulez's obscurities, but there is still plenty to make the disc worthwhile.

The contents of the EMI box are too numerous to list but all the sonatas, variations, and most short pieces are here: absent is the London Sketchbook, which is trite juvenalia.

Cet album Cascavelle reprend ce qui semble être l'intégralité d'un concert Mozart de Clara Haskil, Otto Klemperer et l'Orchestre du Gürzenich de Cologne en 1956, complété par le Concerto de Schumann de quelques semaines postérieur avec Ernest Ansermet et son orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Comme date d'enregistrement la notice indique le 09 septembre 1956 pour Mozart et le 10 octobre 1956 pour Schumann alors que trône en fronton de la couverture de l'album un superbe « Live recording – Montreux April 9th 1956 ». Pourtant c'est bien cette dernière date d'avril qui semble erronée, le concert Mozart ayant bel et bien été donné dans le cadre du Septembre musical de Montreux.

Cet album Cascavelle reprend ce qui semble être l'intégralité d'un concert Mozart de Clara Haskil, Otto Klemperer et l'Orchestre du Gürzenich de Cologne en 1956, complété par le Concerto de Schumann de quelques semaines postérieur avec Ernest Ansermet et son orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Comme date d'enregistrement la notice indique le 09 septembre 1956 pour Mozart et le 10 octobre 1956 pour Schumann alors que trône en fronton de la couverture de l'album un superbe « Live recording – Montreux April 9th 1956 ». Pourtant c'est bien cette dernière date d'avril qui semble erronée, le concert Mozart ayant bel et bien été donné dans le cadre du Septembre musical de Montreux.

Karajan reportedly felt so strongly about his recordings of the Second Viennese School that he agreed to finance them himself when DG balked at picking up the tab. These are great performances, to be sure. Indeed, there may be some others that are comparable, but none are superior. The Berg pieces never have sounded so decadently beautiful, nor the Webern so passionately intense, or the Schoenberg so, well, just plain listenable. The Berlin Philharmonic strings make their usual luscious sounds, but here the winds, brass, and even percussion rise to the occasion as well. And sonically these were always some of Karajan’s best efforts. Essential, then, and a perfect way to get to know these three composers on a single disc.

Schubert's 'Tragic' Symphony and Mozart's 'Paris' Symphony are performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Wiener Musikvereinsaal in 1984. Harnoncourt goes back to Schubert's original manuscripts to perform the music in its purest form. Harnoncourt joined forces with The Chamber Orchestra of Europe for Mozart's last symphonies (Nos. 39-41), performed at the Wiener Musikvereinssaal in 1991. Known throughout the world for his highly original approach to classical music, conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt reveres Mozart as 'the most romantic composer of all'.