Search - Mozart: Symphony C Major "Jupiter" K 551/Symphony C Major "Linz" K 425 on DVD

Tate & the ECO's Sparkling Mozart from the Schönbrunn Palace

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 08/19/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Time was when Jeffrey Tate was not such a great Mozart conductor. I remember a dreadful performance of the Jupiter on, I think, Denon perhaps 25 years ago that simply was not up to snuff. These performances, however, filmed in 1991 in the Great Gallery of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, are spectacularly good. The English Chamber Orchestra, of which Tate was conductor at the time, has a long history of playing Mozart beautifully, going all the way back to their founding by Colin Davis in the late 1940s (when they were known as the Ensemble for Ancient Music) and they have maintained a well-earned reputation in this repertoire over the years. From the very beginning of the 'Jupiter' Symphony (in C, K. 551), which comes first on this DVD, to the very end of the 'Linz' Symphony (also in C, K. 425) there is not a false move, not an awkward transition, not a coarse or unmusical phrase. This is, simply, great music-making. It doesn't hamper things that the performance was filmed in the beautiful Grosse Galerie of the Schönbrunn, with its elaborate chandeliers and sconces, hardwood floors and walls, and an eager audience of Viennese music-lovers dressed to the nines (a very formal occasion, this).

If you want a visual record of a performance of these two marvelous symphonies (and is there anyone who can deny that the Jupiter, at least, is one of the greatest symphonies ever written?), this is the DVD for you. The sound is state-of-the-art.

Recommended heartily.

TT=70 mins.

Scott Morrison"