Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
The Last Six Symphonies
Symphony No. 35 ‘Haffner’
Symphony No. 36 ‘Linz’
Symphony No. 38 ‘Prague’
Symphony No. 39
Symphony No. 40
Symphony No. 41 ‘Jupiter’
Columbia Symphony Orchestra/Bruno Walter
rec. 1959-60, American Legion Hall, Hollywood, USA. Stereo, XR Remastering
Pristine Audio PASC745 [2 CDs: 154]

Here is a double CD package presenting Mozart’s last six symphonies – no. 37 of course being actually by Michael Haydn, Mozart’s contribution to it being the slow introduction to the first movement. These recordings were made on the West Coast by Bruno Walter with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, an outfit devised purely for studio recordings made up mainly of players from the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra.

My colleague Brian Wilson reviewed these upon their re-issue by Sony in 2021, describing them “as offering the best of old-style Mozart in very good transfers.” I have not heard that specific transfer but am sure he is right that the sound is fine; I am equally confident, given my experience with Pristine’s XR remastering that they now sound even better here. It is a little “tubby” and over-reverberant but so rich and alive, with a great spread. I listened to these in order of composition, starting with the ‘Haffner’ and was immediately struck by the grandeur and brilliance of Walter’s delivery. This is very much Mozart looking forward to his most complex later works; the opening has a Beethovenian energy and attack with which the reversion to the more “classical”, courtly grace of the Andante forms a strong contrast. The warmth and humanity of Walter’s interpretation pervade every bar. Yes; sometimes his tempi are by modern standards a touch leaden, hence the stately Menuetto limps a little but it is lovingly played and the Presto finale, as Andrew Rose’s notes say, “crackles with joyous exuberance”.

In common with most conductors of his era, Walter considered repeats to be optional and does not generally observe them except in the first movements of the next two symphonies, the ‘Linz’ and the ‘Prague’. The slow introduction is majestic but the symphony is generally more light-hearted than its predecessor. Walter embraces the lush harmonies of the Andante and I especially like his application  of dynamics. The Menuetto is again ceremonial – all powdered wigs and swishing silks – but the finale scampers engagingly with chuckling woodwind. The ‘Prague’ is so much darker and, has been observed countless times over the years, is instantly and heavily redolent of Don Giovanni which was composed shortly after. The switch from the slow preamble to the exposition at 3:21 is deftly handled and the Andante is affectionately and flexibly negotiated and the concluding Presto – this being the sole three-movement symphony here – is rumbustious and driven.

For all the beauties of the three earlier symphonies here, the final three are the crucial trio, written within a few short, miraculous weeks in the summer of 1788. The cascading figure which dominates the opening of No. 39 is very grand but there is also such warmth and nobility to Walter’s direction. The slow introduction to the Andante second movement is so absorbing under his wise guidance and the sequential transition through a variety of minor keys at its heart is beautifully articulated. There is a harmony and a cohesion to these performances, enhanced by the sonority of the studio orchestra playing what is in fact the weightiest of the last three symphonies; the first three movements have a kind of well-fed, bucolic serenity about them and even the last movement is like a country wedding knees-up, positively radiating a sense of well-being with which Walter is entirely in sympathy. The minor key no. 40 is a much leaner, darker work and some might wish for an edgier account than Walter delivers but he lends it a kind of monumental character which impresses; he is never hurried but neither does the music ever drag. Even the ostensibly jolly Menuetto is given an almost ominous rhythmic emphasis which counteracts its superficial conviviality and the finale is not so much fast as driven, which is almost unsettling, the growling bass line being very prominent, constantly setting a grim tone. The majestic ‘Jupiter’ seems to combine the grandeur of No. 39 with the menace of No. 40 and Walter gives it more momentum than either, as if inexorably pushing forward to that miraculous, kaleidoscopic fugal finale, eager to execute its contrapuntal genius, yet in the slower two middle movements he allows us the leisure to enjoy those plangent melodies. The Menuetto returns to the stomping country waltz mode of No. 39 but the Molto Allegro conclusion to the symphony sparkles without feeling rushed, allowing us to savour its multiple, intermingled melodic lines and frequent changes of key.

There is of course no shortage of recommendable recording of these imperishable masterpieces. For a modern recording, my colleague DMD (review) and I (review) recently extolled Herbert Blomstedt’s pre-eminence in that last trio of symphonies, both of us making it “Recommended”. For all six final symphonies, as per here, depending on my mood, I would turn to the recently reviewed Krips, Maag (review) or Karajan, but this re-issue from Pristine preserves another highly rewarding Mozartian style, suffused with a wise humanity.

Ralph Moore