MOZART: SYMPHONIES 13-16; 25, 29, 32 - ACADEMY OF ST. MARTIN IN THE FIELDS, MARRINER (2 CDs)

Mozart’s Symphonies Nos. 13-16 date from a period when the composer was devoting a great deal of his time to symphonic writing, and are particularly interesting from the light they shed on his gradual moulding of the essentially lightweight opera sinfonia to the weightier symphonic manner of Haydn and his Viennese contemporaries. They were penned when he was just fifteen! The last two symphonies on this recording, date from after Mozart’s return home in March 1773 from the third Italian sojourn, during which Wolfgang’s opera Lucio Silla was premiered in Milan. They mark a return to the Italianate overture-symphony, without minuets and largely lacking the repeated sections characteristic of the Germanic concert-symphony.

This 2CD set represents all the Mozart symphonies – eleven in all – that Neville Marriner and the Academy recorded for Argo from 1968–71. He was later to re-record some of these works for Philips, in much-praised performances, but the freshness and vitality of these earlier recordings, shared between London’s Kingsway Hall and St. John’s, Smith Square, have an allure of their own.

‘The playing indeed is a joy’ (Nos. 13-16) Gramophone

‘bright-eyed and alert’ (Nos. 25, 29, 32) Gramophone

‘These symphonies may be short in length but they are full of sizable things; they are never less than engaging and they sometimes go into Mozart’s heart-felt vein. Marriner appreciates all this and gives every passage its own character, both in the vivacious fast movements and in those that go deeper into emotion … these are extremely perceptive and utterly delightful performances … I remember, not only no better performances of these symphonies but none nearly as vital in lively movements or as sensitive in slow’ (Nos. 23, 24, 26, 27) Gramophone

‘The performances have splendid life and polish … the disc can be warmly recommended to all Mozartians’ (Nos. 25, 29) Penguin Guide to CDs

CD1
Symphony No. 13 in F major, KV 112
Symphony No. 14 in A major, KV 114
Symphony No. 15 in G major, KV 124
Symphony No. 16 in C major, KV 128
Symphony No. 23 in D major, KV 181/162b
Symphony No. 24 in B flat major, KV 182/173dA

CD2
Symphony No. 25 in G minor, KV 183/173dB
Symphony No. 26 in E Flat major, KV 184/161a
Symphony No. 27 in G major, KV 199/161b
Symphony No. 29 in A major, KV 201/186a
Symphony No. 32 in G major, KV 318

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Neville Marriner