If we are right to celebrate or commemorate the major anniversaries of the great musicians, and surely we are, the magnitude of what we do should clearly be commensurate with their importance, and with the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death a mere 17 months away it is no surprise that Deutsche Grammophon have issued this 25-disc set of recordings from their catalogue. The oldest goes back a quarter of a century to 1965, although it is the following decade that is most fully represented, and the most recent performance dates from 1981. But this is no serious matter when the performances are of high quality, the artists are major figures and the digitally remastered sound is generally satisfying. The music has been well chosen too as a representation of Mozart's unparalleled catalogue of masterpieces. The booklets with the discs have some useful period pictures, but could have given us more information in the form of programme-notes, and all start with the same single general paragraph on the composer.
The first four discs bring us symphonies, nine in all. It so happens that Abbado's G minor Symphony (No. 40) is disappointing, with a curiously sluggish initial Allegro (Molto allegro is the marking). The other movements are dull too, while the Jupiter is more weighty than exhilarating, Karajan's coupling of the Prague and No. 39 has more character, with the first of these dramatic and urgently vivacious by turns in the initial movement (though we may prefer a smaller string section) and stylish throughout, with deft yet strong BPO playing in the busy finale. No. 39 is finely done too, with the tempo of the Andante con moto and the monothematic finale perfectly judged. The other Karajan disc with the same orchestra is better still: in the 'overture-symphony' No. 32 the playing is a delight, and the positive, yet sensitive, treatment of No. 33 and the Linz no less so. There is a light touch throughout as regards string sound and the recording is excellent. Bohm's way with Mozart has less electricity than Karajan's, and the Allegro moderato of Symphony No. 29 is too moderato for my taste (the Andante that follows hardly contrasts in its leisurely gait). The music can just about take it though, and he brings a thought and warmth of his own to this composer. The VPO strings play elegantly, though here again this is a big body of them and they're recorded rather reverberantly too. The Haffner is attractive and less idiosyncratic, but even here the conductor takes a ponderous view of the minuet, and his description of Mozart's music as ''a fountain of youth'' doesn't really come across. However, the remarkable Masonic funeral music for nine woodwind (including double bassoon) and strings is impressive.
The three CDs of serenades and divertimentos bring more stylish playing from Karajan and BPO, although the nature of Eine kleine Nachtmusik strikes me as needing a smaller body of strings and one is over-conscious of bass. The Serenata notturna has good soloists (with an appropriately folky violin) and the three boyhood divertimentos are enjoyable too, though they sound better as first intended, played by a string quartet. It's back to Karl Bohm for bigger pieces in this genre, this time with the BPO; he is in good form with the Haffner Serenade, and its charm and spacious galanterie are well realized so that its length does not seem excessive, while Thomas Brandis is convincing in his solo violin contribution. The BPO winds (ten of them, not always quite the same) are a model of ensemble, too, in K186, K166 and KAnh227. The Posthorn Serenade is no less successful. James Galway (in fine form) and Horst Eichler (on the posthorn in the second minuet) are among the well-blended wind soloists. There's no ponderousness about Bohm here, and the music, though varying in staying power, is attractive.
The fortepiano was Mozart's chief instrument, and rightly this collection represents sonatas and other pieces for two and four hands. It is not often that we hear the 'easy' C major Sonata, K545, played as skilfully as this. However, it's a bit strait-laced and Christoph Eschenbach could bring more affection to the first movement, and humour to the finale, in the way he does to the C major Variations, K265 and the A major Sonata with the 'Turkish Rondo'. He's strong and characterful in the big C minor Fantasia and Sonata and only at times in these pieces do I think he could allow himself a greater use of the sustaining pedal. He and Justus Frantz are an admirably matched pair in the six pieces for four hands on their CD. But this is cool Mozart playing, perhaps refreshing in its way, but for my taste (others have thought more highly of it) too neat and 'pat', with a surface perfection that leaves something wanting: listen, say, to the finale of the C major Sonata or the Andante of the D major to see what I am getting at. I prefer these artists in the Variations, K501, which for some obscure reason they seem to see differently, and to advantage. The two wonderful pieces in F minor ''for mechanical organ'' are respectively sensitive and low-voltage; collectors who know K608 only as an organ piece will perhaps find interest in this account of the piano-duet transcription, but here it seems a mere faute de mieux, needing more sense of urgency and weightier sound for its colossal drama to be revealed.
Mozart piano playing of a different order is met with in the classic performance of his last piano concerto by Emil Gilels and the VPO with Bohm. Suffice it to say that Gilels sees everything and exaggerates nothing, that the performance has an Olympian authority and serenity, and that the Larghetto is (to borrow a phrase used, for another performance, in that fine book The Record Guide, now 40 years old) ''one of the glories of the gramophone''. Vasary, too, is an expert Mozartian, and he gives a satisfying account of the Coronation Concerto in which he directs the BPO from the keyboard, though ultimately the playing (for example, the opening solo in the slow movement and the orchestral response to it) is tasteful, rather than compellingly beautiful.
We hear less of Friedrich Gulda today than we did 15 or 20 years ago, but his playing of the D minor Piano Concerto brings out the drama of the work and Abbado and the VPO support him well. However, the piano tone is unpleasantly steely in forte, and pedalling makes some textures over-thick. Also Gulda's own cadenza to the first movement is Beethovenian in style and overlong at nearly two and half minutes. The C major Concerto fares better, and the finale has the right kind of verve, but the sound is heavy for Mozart, and Abbado and Gulda together give the famous 'Elvira Madigan' tune in the Andante a more ripely romantic treatment than will suit all tastes. However, with the next CD (No. 11 in the set) we are on rather safer interpretative ground with Pollini, Bohm and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the popular A major Concerto and No. 19 in F major. This account of K488 definitely looks forward to the nineteenth century, with its full and reverberant orchestral and piano sound, but the playing is stylish and, although ultimately I must confess to finding this performance too rich in effect, it is intelligent, consistent and appealing. The same may be said of K459.
For the two works in E flat major to which Mozart gave the title Sinfonia Concertante, we remain with the same conductor and orchestra. K364 with two string soloists is well balanced as regards the solos and the orchestra, but the actual sound of the otherwise skilful soloists themselves is not very attractive, at least as recorded here. The 1966 recording generally is heavy and bassy, while the beautiful slow movement does not 'speak' as fully as it should. The work with four wind players, good though they are, is also largely heavyweight in style and sound alike, and is therefore another disappointment. Unfortunately it has to be said that the name of Bohm should not be thought of as guaranteeing impeccable results here. We are in a different class of Mozart performance altogether with the now famous accounts of the Violin Concertos Nos. 3 and 5 from the 14-year-old Anne-Sophie Mutter with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. She has polish, and yet a very attractive youthful directness and strength too. The unhurried but alert playing is convincing in quicker and slower music alike and together she and Karajan offer a fine example of a happy artistic marriage between youth and experience, with the 'Turkish' episode in the finale of No. 5 fully characterized. Although the violin is placed rather forwardly this is also a faithful recording, and the CD is one of the best in this set.
Wind concertos come next. The two for flute bring us, for the first time in this series, to the English Chamber Orchestra who, under Bernhard Klee, yield nothing in stylishness to their German and Austrian counterparts, while Karlheinz Zoeller is a sensitive soloist, though the cadenzas played (by Muller-Dombois) are the musical equivalent of too wordy and the one in the first movement of K313 lasts nearly two minutes. Excellent recording here. (Alternative versions are discussed on page 374.) The Concerto for Flute and Harp has Bohm once again in charge, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; but it is by no means a delicate account of this celestial work, partly (though not wholly) because of the close recording of the two soloists. If you like this concerto presented forcefully this is a skilful account, but I wish there were more Gallic graces and nuances in this performance of a work that Mozart wrote in Paris for a French nobleman and his daughter. The Clarinet Concerto, which is among the greatest of all the composer's wind pieces, is more successful and the soloist Alfred Prinz thoughtful and sweet toned, but although this performance has won praise I feel that Bohm handles the VPO a trace solidly and Teutonically (yes, I know he was Austrian) and that this playing has everything except spontaneity. The concertos for oboe (the same music, transposed, as the Flute Concerto in D) and bassoon also have skilful and stylish soloists, the latter especially so in Dietmar Zeman with his beautiful and well modulated tone, but, alas, the same criticism applies to the performances as a whole and must be laid firmly at Bohm's door. Mozart comes fully alive again in the CD of the four horn concertos with Gerd Seifert, Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Seifert was at this time (1969) the first horn of the orchestra and had been for five years, and maybe his playing has less personality than that of a 'regular' concerto soloist, but it is so natural and well integrated with the performance as a whole, which is alert and sensitive, that it is both attractive and convincing as well as impeccable tonally, while the finales of Nos. 3 and 4 are rightly sparkling and uninhibited. Here, therefore, is another desirable single CD from this set, on which the four concertos fit easily.
Some people may regret that this 25-disc Mozart set has only two string quartets, and the performance by the Melos Quartet of the Hunt and the Dissonance is good enough to cause them to regret it even more; but at any rate we can readily enjoy playing which is so fresh and unmannered, and yet so responsive, and which has also been so well recorded that it is possible to think the technique used has been digital. The music itself is quite masterly, both quartets belonging to the set of six which Mozart dedicated to Haydn, and the Melos bring considerable understanding to its wide range of moods as well as deft ensemble to the vivid interchanges of ideas in the quicker movements, though I personally would have liked the Adagio 'dissonant' introduction to K465 to have been a little slower and more mysterious. The Amadeus Quartet were another DG ensemble and one of their most eminent; on the next CD we hear them with three woodwind players. The Clarinet Quintet with Gervase de Peyer is superb all round, bringing every beauty into focus in the most natural way and with a recording of top quality to match the calibre of the playing. The Flute and Oboe Quartets are perhaps less celebrated but they too offer memorable music (listen, for example, to the the Adagio of the former with its pizzicato accompaniment), and here too the playing is first rate and this is therefore another highly desirable CD, one of the best in the set and Mozart at his most radiant.
The last six CDs of this set are devoted to sacred choral music and opera; not enough, some may say, but no allocation of Mozart's output to 25 CDs would satisfy everyone and I think the choice has been well made. Karajan is again on good form in the Coronation Mass with its qualities of grandeur that never surpasses liturgical propriety and elsewhere a devotional intimacy, and the various sections are well integrated, while his choice of the four soloists is justified both as individuals and together (listen to the ensemble of the Benedictus) and the Vienna Singverein are always responsive and rise to real fervour in the Sanctus. The Ave verum corpus and the C major Missa brevis (''Sparrow'' Mass because of the chirpy violin figure in the Sanctus) on this disc are both under Kubelik and use the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and these are also well done, being respectively quietly touching and excitingly alive. Edith Mathis is fine and well partnered by Bernhard Klee and the Dresden State Orchestra in the two soprano pieces of which the Exsultate, jubilate is the better known. The 1976 recording of the Requiem was perhaps Karajan's best recorded performance of this noble work and it holds together with force and eloquence to make a cumulative effect of unmatched power and expressive richness. Soloists, chorus and orchestra alike are caught up in the work (listen, for example, to van Dam in the Tuba mirum, the quartet in the Recordare and the chorus in the Confutatis). The recording is immediate and copes pretty well with the massive textures of the Dies irae, the Sanctus and some other passages.
The operas are, inevitably, represented by excerpts, but they have been well chosen for four discs from what are probably the four best known among them and each CD begins with the overture, while after that the numbers follow the story chronologically and we end with the finale. All are conducted by Karl Bohm, and Le nozze di Figaro has Fischer-Dieskau as a vigorous, resourceful Count, Janowitz as the neglected Countess (a ''Porgi amor'' to touch the heart), Edith Mathis as Susanna and Tatiana Troyanos as a lovable Cherubino, as well as good playing from Bohm's Viennese forces. Don Giovanni was recorded live during Salzburg performances in 1977 and has an international cast, with Sherrill Milnes as the Don and Walter Berry as Leporello; not surprisingly, there's plenty of atmosphere and perspective in the recorded sound and the thrustful character of the Don and the gentler nature of his ladies is well conveyed, while at the same time Milnes makes Giovanni more sympathetic and genuinely seductive than he sometimes is. Tomowa-Sintow and Zylis-Gara are touching as Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, and Mathis as Zerlina charming in ''Batti, batti''. The last scene, with the Commendatore, is exciting, too. Rightly, some recitative is included, and it is powerfully done, though one may wish that texts and translations had been included.
Cosi fan tutte offers us a very different world, and fortunately Bohm brings a light touch to this live recording of a Salzburg Festival performance in 1974 which coincided with his eightieth birthday. Here again there are no weak links in the cast, and the two couples (three, if you count the disguised pair of 'Albanians') are well presented vocally by Janowitz, Fassbaender, Prey and Schreier (a likeable Ferrando); though again the recitatives will make non-Italians wish for a written text, the music and performance are so attractive that few will complain. There are no less than 21 tracks here, more than with other operas, and if this makes for a slightly 'bitty' feeling, that is perhaps difficult to avoid when the producers are anxious to include as much of the plot as possible. Last but but by no means least, Die Zauberflote has Fischer-Dieskau as the bird-catcher Papageno (a role he would not do on stage, thinking himself too big, but how right he is for it in, say, his first number on track 3) and the golden-toned and much missed Fritz Wunderlich as Tamino. The Queen of Night of Roberta Peters is young-sounding and strained, and the Pamina and Sarastro unexceptional; but once again, this is an attractive CD overall and the DG producer has done well to give a rounded account of this opera in 16 tracks which show us the main characters and story line.
Altogether, a monumental set for a major anniversary, and don't forget that the attractively priced discs and cassettes are also available separately.'