Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra :: Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik + Overtures K 486 588 492 620 477 (CBS Great Performances)

Mozart Masterpieces

Jay W. Kvale | Albert Lea, MN United States | 05/30/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording is a splendid tribute to a revered conductor, outstanding musicians, and a great composer. Walter and the musicians Columbia assembled for him perform these pieces with authority and commitment. Although the original recording was made more than 40 years ago, it is superior to many of the digital efforts of today, with a clear delineation of orchestral timbres that is a result of both the close-up miking favored by Columbia's engineers and Walter's attention to detail. It is a joy to hear, for instance, the lower string and bassoon parts often obscured in other performances. The one mild disappointment on the disc is the Figaro overture. Although the orchestral playing is fine, Walter's slightly too-genial pacing partly robs this quintessential Mozart gem of the sense of mischief and fun brought to it by conductors like Marriner and Bohm. Everything else is topnotch. The familiar Nachtmusik serenade is performed with a robust earthiness which is quite a contrast to the sparkling elegance that one usually hears in this piece, proving once again there is no one way great music must be played. Of the other overtures, Impresario is an exuberant romp, Cosi's wonderful dovetailing woodwind parts are performed with assured virtuosity, and the Magic Flute has both insistent rhythmic drive and an air of magisterial drama. The Masonic Funeral Music brings us into a different world, far removed from the well-known Mozart of catchy tunes and sprightly rhythms. Composed on commission for the deaths of fellow Masons, this piece reflects Mozart's increasing awareness of his own approaching end, misunderstood by the public and abandoned by friends, even eventually by his wife. This is the Mozart of the great G Minor Symphony (#40) and the Requiem -- somber, intense, and profound. Like the Requiem, sadness and solitude inform the opening bars, but under Walter's skilled leadership, a sense of powerful spiritual exaltation increasingly develops out of the ebb and flow of the dark instrumentation, conveying once again Mozart's enduring legacy that beauty will triumph over dissolution and death. Walter's magnificent performance of this unique masterpiece is alone worth the price of the disc."

The Best Night Music Ever

BasicRep | Charleston SC | 03/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Mozart compilation CD has been at the top of my playing list for over 20 years. Walter and the Columbia SO give vibrant performances to Night Music along with various overtures. The sound is excellent, and no other CD of these works comes close. This is part of the old Columbia records 'Great Performances' line, and surprisingly seems to have remained in the catalog. The GP series is being resurrected with new releases by Sony, so hopefully this release will remain available, or at least be reissued.

If you like classical music at all, this is an 'must have' CD. I also recommend the Bohm/Berlin Phil Mozart 2CD set with some other Serenades along with Night Music, if you want to explore further[DG 453076]."

The radiant light after the shadows!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 12/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bruno Walter was a remarkable conductor of Mahler. This brief introduction is important to remark because, every time Walter conducted Mozart, it can be felt how the elements of candor, charm, presence and warmth of the Austrian surrounding is felt far beyond the score.



Walter illuminates the bars with that refulgent brightness and touch of humanity, in this sense his Mozart is deeply contemporanean and above all human. He literally, transports us (as Gould playng Bach)to the essential core of the lyric musculature and eloquent expression.



In this sense I want to recommend you this admirable and triumphal set of Overtures with the complement of the most renowned of Mozart' s Serenades; his Kleine Nachtmusik, surpassed only by Sandor Vegh and Ferenc Fricsay in what it concerns to lyrical purity and sublime expression.



Go for this CD without any doubt."