Mozart: Symphony No. 29 in A major, K201

Mozart’s Symphonies Nos. 13-16 date from a period when the composer was devoting a great deal of his time to symphonic writing, and are particularly interesting from the light they shed on his gradual moulding of the essentially lightweight opera sinfonia to the weightier symphonic manner of Haydn and his Viennese contemporaries. They were penned when he was just fifteen! The last two symphonies on this recording date from after Mozarts’ return home in March 1773 from the third Italian sojourn, during which Wolfgang’s opera Lucio Silla was premiered in Milan. They mark a return to the Italianate overture-symphony, without minuets and largely lacking the repeated sections characteristic of the Germanic concert-symphony.

This 2CD set represents all the Mozart symphonies – eleven in all – that Neville Marriner and the Academy recorded for Argo from 1968–71. He was later to re-record some of these works for Philips, in much-praised performances, but the freshness and vitality of these earlier recordings, shared between London’s Kingsway Hall and St. John’s, Smith Square, have an allure of their own.

The symphonies Mozart wrote in his youth bear witness to the remarkable assurance of a composer whose genius was already in full flower. In 1773, on returning to Salzburg after spending several months in Italy, the seventeen-year-old Mozart resumed his position as Konzertmeister at the court of the archbishop. He had brought back from his stay in Italy a profound grasp of the art of instrumental writing, and it is from this period that his four-movement Symphony No.29 in A major (K201) dates. By turns energetic, nostalgic and witty, this work is imbued with a new spirit.

The celebrated Symphony No.40 in G minor (K550) dates from 1788 and is one of the most dramatic of all Mozart’s works. This symphony dispenses with any kind of slow introduction, plunging the listener straight into a dark-toned and restless Molto allegro that is full of contrasts, sparely orchestrated and shot through with bold modulations. This is followed by a meditative, almost desolate Andante. The down-to-earth humour of the robust Menuetto was remarked on by Berlioz, and the symphony ends with an Allegro assai that is permeated by an anguish and a profundity that look forward to German romanticism.

Completed on 10 August 1787, Eine kleine Nachtmusik (K525) is one of Mozart’s most frequently played serenades. Its four movements are models of balance, elegance and poetry.

The multi-award-winning partnership of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras is reunited in this second collection of Mozart Symphonies featuring Nos 29, 31 (Paris), 32, 35 (Haffner) & 36 (Linz)’. This much anticipated recording follows on from the astounding success of ‘Mozart Symphonies 38 – 41’ which resulted in him winning the Critics’ Award at the 2009 BRIT Awards and led to ’Mozart Symphonies 38-41’ being named Disc of the Year at the 2009 BBC Music Magazine Awards.

This recording includes both versions of the 2nd movement of the Paris Symphony; unusually Sir Charles requested that the alternative version follows the original, rather than coming at the end of the album as an appendix.

An obsessive musical researcher, Sir Charles merged his considerable knowledge of these works with scores and parts he has been editing from available sources for years for this recording.

Sir Charles Mackerras has won widespread praise for his fresh, vibrant and youthful Mozart performances, which was named the classical recording of 2008 by the Sunday Times and HMV Choice. It also won a 2009 Midem Award for Symphonic Works and a Choc de l’année Award from Le Monde de la Musique.

This recording re-unites the award-winning team, including producer James Mallinson, who has just been nominated for a Grammy award.

Sir Charles Mackerras, the SCO’s Conductor Laureate, has produced numerous award-winning recordings, performed fifty times at the Edinburgh Festival and in 2005 was the first recipient of the ‘Queen’s Medal for Music’.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra has a large UK-based fan base following performances throughout Scotland and regular appearances at the Edinburgh, St Magnus and Aldeburgh Festivals, the BBC Proms and on BBC Radio 3.

Inspired by his recent stay in Italy, and back at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg, the 17-year-old Mozart composed five symphonies in 1773-74; Nos 25, 26 and 29 were among them. These inventive, finely proportioned works achieve a fusion between the light, three-movement sinfonia, or Italian overture, and the German symphony – denser, usually in four movements, and including a minuet.

French conductor Jérémie Rohrer, born in Paris in 1973, worked with Marc Minkowski, William Christie and Christopher Hogwood before founding Le Cercle de l’Harmonie in April 2005 with the violinist Julien Chavin and a number of close colleagues. The group focuses on orchestral and operatic repertoire of the late 18th century and has collaborated with dazzling German soprano Diana Damrau on two Virgin Classics releases: Arie de bravura by Mozart, Salieri and Righini, which (following the highest praise in Gramophone, Opera News, Diapason, Télérama, Opéra International, Classica Repertoire, and a Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik) has sold 25,000 copies around the world, and the recently released all-Mozart album Donna.

The first of these two releases prompted the German magazine Das Opernglas to praise conductor and orchestra with these words: “The orchestra makes the most of all the moods in these scores, bringing power and succulence, but also an exceptional sense for nuance,” while the French newspaper Libération said: “It is ages since we heard Mozart’s harmony exalted to such mouthwatering effect.”

“Gathered around Jérémie Rhorer, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie offers a sumptuous Mozartian feast. Impeccably executed, with incisive energy in the chords, polyphonic clarity, beauty of tone: everything is delectable … Long live this circle of harmony!” Diapason

“For Jérémie Rhorer and his partners, it is a case of fidelity rewarded. Fidelity to their idea of musical purity, of artistic distinction – a Mozartian ideal, in fact.” Télérama

“Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, with each musician playing as if his or her life depended on it.” Altamusica

ABBADO 2008 is a celebration of Claudio Abbado's 75th birthday in June, and a cornucopia of six releases is planned to mark the occasion. These include two new Mozart recordings; a new version of his landmark Beethoven symphony cycle plus a new collection of Beethoven concertos; a DVD of Abbado in Concert; as well as a new CD compilation, for which Abbado himself made the selections. Two Times Mozart – Symphonies and Violin Concertos. The two new recordings are both Mozart themed. They feature the Orchestra Mozart, a handpicked group of players founded in Bologna in 2004, with Abbado as their artistic director – and with Giuliano Carmignola as concert-master. Both recordings bear witness to Abbado’s continuing love of Mozart. Abbado has prepared the orchestra by touring throughout Italy – gathering acclaim for their performances, not only for their Mozart, but also Bach (Brandenburg Concertos) and other composers. The energy and freshness found in the performances of the Violin Concertos is also evident in the recordings of five Mozart symphonies, including the "Haffner", the "Prague" and the "Jupiter". Consider these as Abbado’s “home recordings” of the five symphonies – recorded live from concerts in Bologna, Bolzano, Modena and Ferrara between 2004 and 2006 – giving them an extraordinary, raw energy, with the impact of drama and lyricism at the forefront. The recordings of Symphonies nos. 33 and 38 (Prague) are new to Abbado’s discography.