Of the different versions which Haydn made of his unique devotional sequence of Adagio movements, the purely orchestral one presents most difficulties, lacking the intimacy of the string quartet version and the full gravity of the choral version. This live recording made by Austrian Radio at the Salzburg Festival in August 1982 pre-dates Muti’s Berlin studio version for Philips by nearly a decade.
That is reflected in the faster, more flowing speeds he adopts in the later version. If that is generally an advantage, this live concert version, recorded in the relatively dry acoustic of the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg, gains on many other fronts, not just in the extra tension conveyed in a live event.
Most important, the relative dryness means that the orchestra seems much smaller, on a more appropriate scale for this music, whether or not there were fewer players. The explanation lies in the Berlin recording, which was made in the warm acoustic of the Jesus-Christus Kirche, with smooth and massive results. In the Austrian Radio recording, admittedly with more limited analogue sound, the scale fits the music better. Though it hardly conveys the intimacy of the quartet version, it is recognisably the same work translated, with far clearer inner detail.
Even when, as in the sixth movement, ‘Consummatum est’, Muti’s Salzburg tempo is far slower, the extra tenderness makes it more moving, and throughout the performance the subtle dynamic gradations of piano and pianissimo are more tellingly caught. The spiritual dimension is not conveyed as it would be with a quartet or a chorus (Muti is hardly the interpreter for that), but it makes a deeply involving experience none the less, with the Vienna Philharmonic on excellent form.'