Both the Beethoven recordings detailed above were made by small orchestras using period instruments, and there are superficial similarities in approach. But the Hanover Band of Nimbus manages without a conductor; and for this and other reasons the Beethoven gets a much more compelling performance on this new record. Bruggen, today a world-famous recorder player and flautist, has also played in orchestras, and here he draws playing which, in spite of these being public performances (with applause at the end), have none of the minor imperfections to be heard on the Hanover Band record. Springy rhythms, staccato notes that really are staccato and fast tempos make the music unusually exciting, the last two movements of the Beethoven being outstanding (though there is rather too much timpani in the balance). No conductor may sometimes be better than a bad conductor, but from Beethoven's time onwards the results cannot hope to be so good as those achieved by a conductors of Bruggen's calibre.
Many will find the Mozart equally pleasing but I must admit to an old-fashioned preference for a less unswervingly strict-tempo approach in the first two movements. There is no ambiguity of mood here. But again the finale is a wonder, and in the development I liked the unusual emphasis on the wind Semibreves. Bruggen does make you realize that this was as stunning a development sections as Mozart ever devised.'