Taken from live performances held at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2002, this all-Mozart program showcases Itzhak Perlman’s increasing podium activities, along with directing the G major K. 216 concerto from his position as violin soloist. The latter selection reveals Perlman’s tone to have lost its sweet luster and registral evenness in comparison with his more vibrantly singing mid-1980s recording with James Levine and the Vienna Philharmonic. Sequences in broken sixths are more effortfully dispatched now than before, while Levine secures a higher degree of inflection and important wind and brass detail (the start of the Rondeau, for instance) than Perlman does from his Berlin colleagues. The Berlin strings, however, paint the Adagio in dark, stately tones, while the fugue is admirably pointed and clear.
While the Berlin Philharmonic surely can play the Jupiter Symphony in its collective sleep, Perlman is not yet at the point where he can conduct the work in his. Loud tuttis, for instance, don’t always come off with the assurance and force needed. As in the concerto, you wish that Mozart’s imaginative woodwind writing would establish itself on equal footing with the strings, especially in the Finale’s extraordinary polyphonic interplay. In concert, a performance such as this might be immensely satisfying, even memorable. On disc, however, both the Levine and Bernstein Vienna Philharmonic traversals offer greater sonic and musical impact, to say nothing of the matchless Szell/Cleveland Jupiter.
