Search - Mozart, Krips, Cgb :: Symphonies 32, 38 & ,40

Most persuasive Mozart

D. Levy | Buffalo, NY USA | 02/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I came to like Mozart late, long after I had fallen under the spell of Beethoven. Until then, Mozart struck me as a fop: A talented tunesmith who coasted on his facile melodies and the cookie cutter nature of his compositions. He was a composer of his era, and his era wasn't particularly interesting. He wasn't the visionary, like Beethoven.

These recordings convinced me otherwise. I received them as an automatic order from the International Preview Society, a now defunct record club that distributed off-brand pressings of recordings from the Polygram labels (DG, London and Philips). They were originally released in the late 1970s by the latter as a set of the last six Mozart symphonies, and the performances were, in a word, revelatory. Krips, a highly regarded Mozartean, brings these symphonies to stunning and compelling life. For the first time, I heard the true Mozart: vibrant, passionate, full of humanity and red blood and all those things that demark greatness. I was won over, and never looked back. The recording quality is equally fine: spacious, balanced, with a well-defined stereo image. The original set of six symphonies went in and out of CD distribution too quickly. Fortunately for us, Universal has seen fit to re-release these three performances that must be included in any collection, even if these symphonies are already represented."