Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus: The Symphonies (Telearc, 2008)

Have I got a treat for you guys. This ten disc set features the COMPLETE repertoire of symphonies composed by Mozart, including the ones from 42 onwards. The music comes under the care of the Prague Chamber Orchestra as conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras. Enjoy and comment freely.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/47b7617sowdap09/WMA_-_TS.rar/file

https://www.discogs.com/Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart-Sir-Charles-Mackerras-Prague-Chamber-Orchestra-Mozart-The-Symphonies/release/7048885

Thanks for this! I love Mozart and are quite familiar with the music, but this recording is new to me. (I own the LP collection of Mozart’s complete symphonies, conducted by Karl B�hm for the Deutsche Grammophon.)

One thing: I’m curious about your remark "including the ones from 42 onwards". Disc 10 ends with Mozart’s last symphony (KV 551, "Jupiter"), which was numbered No. 41, so what exactly are you referring to?

One thing: I’m curious about your remark "including the ones from 42 onwards". Disc 10 ends with Mozart’s last symphony (KV 551, "Jupiter"), which was numbered No. 41, so what exactly are you referring to?

Well, the collection features a handful of works labelled as follows:

1. #"55" in B-flat major

2. #"44" in D major

3. #"47" in D major

4. #"45" in D major

5. #"42" in F major

6. #"46" in C major, K.111b (K.96)

Since the numbers have apostrophes, I kinda assumed they were either apocryphal (falsely attributed to Mozart, but included in the collection nonetheless) or earlier works of his that were found later on and given these numbers because Mozart didn’t bother to label them himself. I’m no expert in Mozart’s life and work, so I can only volunteer these guesses. Do you know anything else about it?

Yes, you’re quite correct with your assumption. Mozart never numbered his symphonies himself, those numbers were given to them almost a century after his death, in 1879, when 41 symphonies were released in one volume. In later years, more symphonies were released, some of them earlier works by Mozart, some of them falsely attributed to him. This is what I was able to resarch about those 6 symphonies you had listed above:

1. #"55" in B-flat major: K. 45b (formerly K. suppl. 214): possibly from Jan. 1768, of dubious authenticity

2. #"44" in D major: K. 73l (formerly K. 81): composed spring of 1770, possibly from Leopold Mozart (Wolfgang’s father)

3. #"47" in D major: K. 73m (formerly K. 97): possibly from 1770, of dubious authenticity

4. #"45" in D major: K. 73n (fomerly K. 95): possibly from 1770, of dubious authenticity

5. #"42" in F major: K. 75: from 1771, of dubious authenticity

6. #"46" in C major, K.111b (K.96): probably from 1771, of dubious authenticity

It will be interesting to hear those works, though! Looking forward to it! 🙂

Whoever composed these symphonies these CDs are among the best Mozart interpretations available anywhere. And if one would buy them they are quite affordable now.

New links added.

Thank you for this share.

And if anyone is interested, while I’m not sure where Telarc got the numbering from (possibly one of the people who redid the Kochil(sp?) cataloging over the years), Mozart did in fact do more than 41, although 41 was the last known. In addition to the numbered ones (symphonies which were composed as symphonies) he also made abstracts of his operas and turned those into symphonies so that they could be played by significantly smaller groups for a lot less cost and get his music out to more people (we were about 50 years away from an orchestra as we know it today — groups were a lot smaller and instrumentation was a lot more flexible). It was a way of advertising his operas and his name. Sort of what a commercial soundtrack is today to a movie.

Thank you!

May I ask what format these are? MP3 or FLAC?