How idiotic can a CD package get? It says “mozart the great symphonies”, as if e.e. cummings suddenly had become a booklet designer. Then it does not say which symphonies you actually get on these five discs. For the record, it’s Nos. 25-41, including No. 37 by Michael Haydn. So at least two discs of this stuff hardly qualifies as “great”–but beyond that the performances are good, if hardly stunning. On the whole, Jane Glover directs stylishly, with excellent balances between strings and winds providing transparent textures. But in the late symphonies trumpets and timpani don’t cut through as they ideally should, and occasionally some of the tempos (first movement and finale of No. 40, for example) sound a bit mechanical and a touch underpowered, with too much of a “jog trot” effect. It’s not a serious problem, and the early symphonies come off particularly well, but I found little to get excited about. In other words: solid and gracious, rather than inspired.
