This latest addition to John Eliot Gardiner's Mozart symphony series offers characteristic readings—finely detailed, powerful, falling comfortably on the ear. The Paris, always intended as a work to show off the qualities of an orchestra in technique and discipline, certainly serves its purpose in this shapely and aware reading. I have sometimes wondered in listening to Gardiner's performances whether he does not do more with the music especially in dynamic gradation and accent—than the composer could have intended or imagined: yet here, in what is after all a showpiece (Mozart was eager to impress the Paris Concert Spirituel audience), I am hard put to it to deny the propriety and aptness, still less the musicality, of what he does. The performance is very dose indeed in approach to the excellent Bruggen/Philips listed above. Both produce a considerably sweeter orchestral sound than Hogwood on L'Oiseau-Lyre (partly a matter of taste, but one cannot exclude the fact that both Gardiner's and Bruggen's versions seem more carefully polished) they differ in some points of balance Gardiner's main violin line is proportionately more forward, his brass a shade more brazen (and welcomely so) in the big tuttis. It is marginally the more majestic of the two, and in the slow movement more flowing, more singing. It is certainly a full-scale reading, and a serious one; there are possibly more touches of wit in Bruggen's version, especially of the finale, though Gardiner is splendidly brisk and vigorous, with well-placed detail (apart, that is, from an open D that sounds in the very first bars: it would have justified a re-take). But both are very satisfying. Gardiner has the advantage of offering as a bonus the alternative slow movement, but I wish he had not elected to place it immediately after the standard 6/8 one (this means that the normal listener hears both: better to ask the inquisitive listener to make the choice—by putting it at the end of the disc—if he wants the alternative). This slender but pretty piece—I can't believe it was Mozart's original rather than a sop to the despised Concert Spirituel manager—is done duly gracefully.
No. 34, another big and imposing piece but in Mozart's C major rather than his D major manner, also suits Gardiner well. There is a splendid ring to the orchestral sound, and numerous details of timing and shaping add to the first movement's effectiveness. And the finale, if again a shade more serious that it might be (I wonder if Gardiner has heard Beecham here, it was a favourite of his), has splendidly alert violin playing and fine work from the oboes too. It is in the slow movement however that this version shows its superiority, in my view, to the Hogwood one which is expressively very dry. Gardiner includes here the K409 minuet, which some scholars have believed was written in Vienna for insertion into this late Salzburg work. Whether or not this is the case, it doesn't really match the rest of the symphony in style or orchestration, but it is very finely done, with a sturdy rhythm, and the woodwind playing in the trio is a real delight. Altogether a most impressive disc.'