Herbert Blomstedt conducts: W. A. Mozart – Symphonies Nos. 39, 40 & 41

For today’s musicologists, performers and concert-going audiences, Mozart’s final symphonies are still a veritable miracle. Why they were written remains a mystery, and no-one knows whether Mozart ever heard them performed during his lifetime. One thing is certain: Mozart created three individual, distinctive and unique works here, which complement each other despite their extreme diversity.

The symphonies in E Major, K 543 (no. 39), G minor, K. 550 (no. 40), and C Major, K. 551 (no. 41, also known as “The Jupiter”) are the ones that most represent Mozart’s symphonic legacy to later generations of musicians. With its slow introduction, the Symphony in E flat major also opens the entire cycle, already giving the listener a sense of its highs and lows.

As early as 1800, the popular “Great” G minor Symphony was praised as the “painting of a passion-stricken soul”. Like its big sister, the “Jupiter” Symphony in C Major, it numbers among the most-played works in classical music and has been immortalized in countless recordings. Nevertheless, these symphonies – probably the most profound ones before Beethoven – reveal themselves as something quite new in every interpretation. “Mozart placed all the dark sides of human existence into his G minor Symphony”, says Herbert Blomstedt, adding that its “passion” continues to fascinate him.

The eminent Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt, a close associate and regular guest conductor of the BRSO, conducted the E Major Symphony on December 18 and 19, 2019 in the Philharmonie at the Munich Gasteig, the G minor Symphony in concerts on January 31 and February 1, 2013 and the “Jupiter” Symphony on December 21 and 22, 2017 in the Herkulessaal of Munich’s Residenz. The new 2-CD set from BR-KLASSIK now presents these great cornerstones of Mozart’s symphonic oeuvre –in the very best sound quality.

BR-KLASSIK 2CD 900196

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)

CD 1 
Symphony No. 39 E Major, KV 543
Live recording: Munich, Philharmonie im Gasteig, 17–21 December 2019
Symphony No. 40 G minor, KV 550
Live recording: Munich, Herkulessaal der Residenz, 31 January – 1 February 2013
Total Time: 64’01 min.

CD 2 
Symphony No. 41 C Major, KV 551 “Jupiter-Symphonie“
Live recording: Munich, Herkulessaal der Residenz, 18-22 December 2017
Total Time: 38’30 min.

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor