WHY THESE NEW RECORDINGS
These recordings do not seek to replicate a 'received' sound of Mozart's late symphonic music. They follow as closely as possible the intentions of what Mozart wrote revealed through his choices of structure, keys, modulations, instrumentation and especially countrapuntal devices, as well as through studying his composition process in facsimiles of his original handwritten scores.
​
Since Walter Roger's 1915 recording of Symphony 40, there have been technological advances which have greatly altered the approach to recording, reproduction, distribution and listening. Each technology has fostered creativity until its limits were reached. In these recordings you will hopefully hear a clarity not apparent in previous recordings and a fuller bass sound, for example, since there is no plan to issue the recordings on vinyl which did not allow a deep bass for fear of the needle jumping - those were the days!
It would be almost impossible to assert that there is a definitive or authentic way of performing these works: there are versions which either speak to you or they don't. Even Mozart apparently stormed out of a possible first playing of one movement of Symphony 40 because he hated the sound he heard. Mozart probably never heard the sound he had in his head for any of his works and he himself made many amusing and acerbic comments about performers - what he heard was the sound he got, not necessarily the sound he wanted: it was therefore neither authentic or something we need to put effort into recreating, other than for interest value and to create a different sound world that will again appeal to some people.
​
The symphonies are performed with all the sections Mozart wrote that he wished to be repeated. This is rare since earlier recordings were limited by playback format and so some music had to be cut. Most current recordings do cut some repeated sections as well.
​
However, each repeat in these recordings is played quite differently, as would have been done in the eighteenth century. This gives the opportunity to explore in greater depth what Mozart may have wished to communicate. This exploration is achieved using different ways of playing the instruments, different instrumental forces at times and alterations to articulation within phrases whilst remaining faithful to Mozart's dynamics and the articulation marks he did put in. Mozart is less directive in this sense than Beethoven, whilst those familiar with Mahler's scores will know the lengths he went to communicate the kind of sound he wanted.
​
I have tried to be consistent with Mozart’s wishes regarding performance in general and avoided performance practices, commonly accepted nowadays, which he loathed. Two notable examples are firstly slowing the accompaniment supporting a soloist's rubato and secondly slowing down before a pause or before the end of movement.
Most importantly, I have sought to reveal the inner workings of all the instrument lines of Mozart’s ‘Viennese high polyphony’ as his mature style has become known. This is so that the extraordinary musical lines of all his writing, often hidden behind a wall of luscious strings, typical of recordings from the 1970s onwards, can be heard. Maybe some for the first time. Mozart's later symphonies fall outside the Rococo and Classical styles of his earlier Symphonies - they strike a completely different direction injecting a horizontal contrapuntal component which had disappeared 50 years previously. His music was increasingly influenced by his Sunday studies of Bach and Handel at the house of Baron van Swieten. For this reason, I have sought to bring out this new style and avoid the melody-bass dyad which I hear in other recordings.
​
The horns are strident at times, as are the trumpets and timpani. I hope they add excitement in the right way. Trumpets and timpani were still viewed very much as military instruments in the late eighteenth century and the players were often from the military, as instruments were usually borrowed from the local barracks.
​
I have tried to do justice to the sadness, frustration, heart-wrenching emotions and boundless optimism in this unforgettable music.
​
​