Karl Böhm’s survey of the complete Mozart symphonies, recorded between 1959 and 1968, marked the first commercial undertaking of its kind. The performances were typified by a warmth and geniality that seemed characteristically eloquent if highly stylized, with Minuet movements in particular delivered with heavy stateliness. Deutsche Grammophon now has begun to reissue installments of the cycle on its budget Galleria label. The present disc combines the F major symphony K. 112 (written during Mozart’s brief stay in Milan in 1771), with K. 114 in A (the first of 20 symphonies produced between 1771 and 1774), along with symphonies in G, C, and F (K. 124, 128, and 130), composed in May, 1772.
Böhm’s earnest, bucolic manner doesn’t always manage to effectively balance textural transparency with deftness of touch. He uses a fairly large body of players, far more than is considered acceptable in this music today, a fact that in itself lends a certain predictable heaviness. But the payoff comes with an added sense of spaciousness and grandeur–for example, the Allegro maestoso opening movement of Symphony No. 16 in C. Each finale displays power and vigour, and slow movements are beautifully played.
Particularly impressive is Böhm’s reading of the Symphony No. 18 in F (the Mozart scholar Saint-Foix called this “the first of Mozart’s great symphonies”), which fully reflects the increased dimensions and majesty of Mozart’s symphonic concept. Mozart writes for an enlarged orchestra, and the inclusion of four horns adds substantial drama and brilliance to this performance. The magical effect of muted violins in the slow movement also is highly appealing, and Böhm ensures that the weighty finale registers with an urgency and impact that might well surprise in music from Mozart’s Salzburg period. In all, these are agreeable performances and decent digital transfers, which should serve you well if you like big-band Mozart. As a superior alternative, Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields on Philips (Complete Mozart Edition) present these works in highly evocative readings, bringing a sense of formal unity and clarity to the proceedings that’s lacking in those by the larger Berlin Philharmonic forces.
