GREAT RECORDINGS phase 15

MOZART: SYMPHONIES Nos. 29, 35 ‘Haffner’,
38 ‘Prague’, 39, 40 & 41 ‘Jupiter’
Philharmonia & New Philharmonia Orchestras
Otto Klemperer

3 45810 2
(Angel: 3 45815 2) (2CDs)
Recorded 1956, 1960, 1962 & 1965
Stereo/ADD
155 minutes

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‘These are marvellous performances of the Symphonies Nos. 38 & 39, deeple considered and played to perfection by the Philharmonia. There is no better Haffner on disc and the performance of No.29 is not to be missed. In the last two symphonies power and elegance stand side by side.’
(The Gramophone)

Selected from Otto Klemperer’s sixteen EMI recordings (including five remakes) of Mozart symphonies, this 2-CD compilation presents the ‘pick’ of the conductor’s performances of six of the composer’s greatest symphonies: No.29 (1774), No.35 ‘Haffner’ (1782) and the last four (Nos.38 ‘Prague’, 39, 40 & 41 ‘Jupiter’; 1786–1788).

Klemperer gave his first public performance of a Mozart symphony – No.40 – in Cologne in 1920, when one reviewer spoke of the work being performed con espressione, yet with a translucency of texture, and a rhythmic and dynamic finesse that was properly Classical. Critics were saying much the same thing forty years later when, during his 18-year association with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Klemperer made recordings of eleven of Mozart’s symphonies (one each of 25, 31 & 33–36 and two each of 29 and the last four symphonies, 38-41).

The earliest of these recordings, of Nos.29 & 41, were made in mono in 1954. These are fine performances, but the benefits of stereo and some even finer orchestral playing can be found in the remakes from 1965 and 1962, which are the recordings included in this new compilation. Klemperer next recorded Nos.25, 36 and 38–40 in stereo in 1956. These are all highly regarded, and No.39 (heard in stereo for the first time) and No.40 are both reissued here.

In 1960 Klemperer made his only recording of No.35, widely regarded as the finest performance of this work on disc. In 1962, when he tackled the last four symphonies for a second time, he was able to record No.41 in stereo, and the sessions also produced the ‘greatest recording ever made’ of No.38. These famous performances of the three named symphonies are the ones included in this new set.