To have five of the major orchestral works of Webern as the coupling for the last six Mozart symphonies may seem an odd mixture, but the idea is imaginative. I hope that many who buy the set for the Mozart will then find the supplementary Webern items at the end of each disc not just interesting but positively welcoming. One might deduce that Dohnanyi felt that the fastidious refinement and economy of these Webern works had something in common with Mozartian classicism. If so, that is not how it works with these particular readings of either composer. Predictably, the Mozart symphonies are very well-played, but these are above all beefy performances, adopting what now seem old-fashioned manners. Textures are weighty and thick—partly a question of recording quality—and equally phrasing and rhythmic control have learnt nothing from the example of period performance.
Nor is there much in the way of charm or elegance in Dohnanyi's approach. Taking his traditional stance, he contents himself with presenting these masterpieces relatively straight. The results are strong, but not especially winning. Only in the finales of Nos. 36 and 41 do I find something of the exhilaration and freshness that typically marks the truly successful Mozart symphony performance.
The Webern by contrast finds Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra sounding far more at home. These are not just refined but warmly expressive performances, such as one ideally wants if Webern's cryptic, purposeful writing is to be fully appreciated. Sensibly, the Webern items are presented in chronological order, so that on the first disc after the Haffner and Linz the openly romantic Passacaglia, Op. 1, leads naturally to the Six Pieces Op. 6 in their original, unrevised scoring. The essay in the booklet makes no mention of which version is used, though I assume Decca's curious labelling, Op. 6a is intended to mean the original version, a point confirmed by the fact that the tempo descriptions given for the movements are different from the amended ones of the 1928 revision.
DG's recent Abbado version of the Six Pieces also uses the original scoring, but builds the close of the fourth movement with its funeral march overtones to an even more shattering climax. By contrast Dohnanyi is the warmer interpreter and Abbado the more refined in the Five Pieces Op. 10 though both conductors, like Karajan in his pioneering box of Second Viennese School works, consistently give the lie to the old idea of Webern as cold or over-intellectual. I have a feeling that many like me will find themselves in this set turning more to the remarkable Webern rather than to the highly commendable but not very individual Mozart interpretations. The sound is full and rich in the Cleveland manner, which suits spare Webernian textures well, but Mozartian tuttis become far too dense. A heavy bass adds to the thickness, not even letting the timpani come through clearly. But some might well feel nostalgic in this period-conscious age about nineteenth-century treatment of eighteenth-century works.'