Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550

“Jos van Immerseel, better known as fortepianist than conductor, sets quickish tempos in almost all the movements of Symphonies Nos 39 and 40. The overall effect is of vitality, brightness and clarity, with contrapuntal interplay much more apparent than usual. There are few of the usual tragic overtones in the gracefully played Andante; of No 39, or the usual darkness and foreboding in No 40. All this comes partly from the period instruments, and the perceptive way they're handled. Van Immerseel balances them carefully, has little or no string vibrato and clearly requires precise articulation. That's why we hear more of the inner lines.
In the Jupiter, however, the approach is less chamber-music-like. This is a trumpets-anddrums symphony, so the manner is more forceful, sometimes rather abrupt; but the first movement is powerfully shaped. Again a quickish Andante with Mozart's textures illuminated to fine effect. The dense writing in the minuet profits from a finely balanced texture, and so above all does the finale, where you're constantly aware of all that's going on below the surface. It's passionate, too: listen to those timpani thwacks in the development and the power of the extraordinary recapitulation. The amazing five-part counterpoint of the coda is heard with unprecedented clarity.
These may not be everyone's performances.
But they should be treasured: if you think you know these symphonies back to front, these versions will enable you to listen to the music afresh and hear new things in it.
The Bassoon Concerto filler is enjoyably played by Jane Bower on a period bassoon, delightfully uneven in tone but always beautifully tuned and with many neatly imaginative touches.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010